


The Two Rabbits Job

by LeverageIntl



Series: Leverage International [1]
Category: Leverage
Genre: American Sign Language, Art Smuggling, Con Artists, Crimes & Criminals, Heist, Monet - Freeform, Moscow, Muteness, O'Keefe, Organized Crime, Other, Russia, Russian Mafia, Sign Language, Theft, Volki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-06-26 02:16:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15653709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeverageIntl/pseuds/LeverageIntl
Summary: When the Leverage team accidentally interrupts a job of one of Eliot's old friends and have a close run-in with the Russian mob branch, Volki, they seriously consider finding a new thief and grifter to permanently join their team. A conflict-riddled frame job gone askew by blackmail, double-crossing, and pastries, the Leverage team will be lucky to make it out of Russia.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, 
> 
> I assume this site is meant to share fanfictions of all kinds. Mine is not smut and will rarely include sex and, when it does, it will be alluded to and not written. I am not comfortable with writing it. I merely wanted a project to work on to keep me writing. I stored away five seasons worth of Leverage ideas after binge watching it for the first time. Get ready. 
> 
> As a screenwriter, I am not used to prose so I'm sorry if this doesn't read as cleanly as published novels would. I am working on it. I am keeping to canon as much as possible to respect the writers of the original Leverage TV show who somehow entranced me into coming up with this entire series. 
> 
> This story starts two years after the last episode of Leverage. I do love doing research for these projects and learning new things. Please, let me know what you like and do not. I will, however, only wish for constructive criticism. I have a lot planned for this team (including a new grifter) and I hope you enjoy their adventures.

_The United States Embassy in Moscow, Russia_

The elegant sound of a string quartet drifts through the air as a man wearing a heavy coat over his serving uniform walks up to the service entrance of the building. His long brown hair obscures most of his face, but his piercing blue eyes easily cut through. 

Snow crunches under his feet as the server falls under the shadow of large tan building displaying the seal of the United States Embassy. Discreet guards are stationed around the perimeter, wires coiling out of their ears from their receivers, and bulges under their jackets from hidden holsters. 

Without hesitation, the man heads straight for the door and what looks to be a clear shot. Out of a shadow, one of the guards, a clearly muscular bald man, steps in front of him clutching a clipboard. 

“Name?” The bald guard grunts in a heavy Russian accent. 

The server mutters under his breath before replying with a similar Russian accent, “Uh… Viktor. Viktor Utkin.”

The bald security guard leafs through the papers on the clipboard and shakes his head. The wind blows aside part of the guard’s jacket and reveals his holster and Marakov pistol. 

“I can’t hack paper, Eliot.” A voice inside ‘Viktor’s head says. He fiddles with the earbud in his ear.. “What do you want me to do? Just because you’re wearing a server’s uniform doesn’t mean that you have an all-access pass. I told you I was -.”

“Shut up, Hardison.” Eliot hisses as the security guard says something in Russian in his ear piece. Another quick assessment of the guard’s appearance tells Eliot he has an extra clip for the pistol in his jacket and a knife strapped to his lower leg. 

“Give me a moment,” Hardison says. Stationed in a silver compact cargo van not far from the embassy, Hardison sits in front of an intense technological set up. Multiple screens show camera footage of inside the embassy and one screen monitors locations of the team and the comms. His tall stature makes it difficult for him to type and see the screens without a little bit of a hunch. Especially in the van. 

Empty Squeeze soda bottles litter the floor of the van and most of the empty take-out containers are confined to an overflowing trash bag. There are two other seats shoved to the side, giving Hardison the most room he can have to effectively work in. 

His fingers fly on his keyboard as the screen in front of him beeps periodically with adjustments and programs running. “I might be able to clone his phone if you could stand close enough with yours.”

“There is no Utkin on this list or catering roster.” The bald man concludes menacingly, emphasized by him crossing his arms. “You leave now.” 

“Are you sure?” Eliot asks as he frantically pats down his winter jacket as if he was feeling for a wallet or phone. “I have my papers right… here!” 

Eliot uppercuts the bald Russian and lands two other blows to his solar plexus before the man reacts. Eliot runs for the door and the bald guard comes up behind him. He swings the door open and smashes it into the bald Russian’s face. 

The guard stumbles backward and Eliot locks the guard into a hold with his right hand, swings, and throws the bald Russian into the stone outer wall of the building. He wheezes and drops into the lightly snow-dusted concrete with a silent thud. 

“Was that necessary, Eliot?” Hardison asks, looking at the aftermath on the hijacked embassy security feed. “If you gave me just a coupla seconds more I coulda figured something out with his phone. But no. You gotta punch something.”

“Maybe I’ll punch you! Maybe if someone provided the proper cover for me, I wouldn’t have had to!” Eliot snaps, grimacing as he lifts the guard by his arms and drags him into the hallway inside the embassy. Luckily no one was passing through as Eliot shoves the unconscious guard’s body into a utilities closet. He tosses his coat on top of the guard and adjusts the bow tie on his uniform. “I didn’t even have a name!”

Hardison types commands into his keyboard and three computer monitors display security camera feeds with facial recognition software running in the margins. “Maybe if you worked on those grifting techniques or just, you know, smile once in a while - “

“I’m not a grifter, Hardison!” Eliot says, unloading the guard’s gun and tossing it aside. “Why don’t you try this? I’ll be the one a safe distance away cracking jokes.”

“Guys!” A female voice shouts into the intercoms, obviously frustrated and slightly out-of-breath. Dressed in black from head to toe, she unhooks her rappelling harness from the climbing cord and leaves it to dangle in the elevator shaft she just came through. Her blond hair is pinned to her head in a neat bun and covered with a black beret.  
Above the elevator door, a sign states she is on the tenth floor: diplomatic offices. “Remember why we’re here guys. Eliot, get to Linster, plant the tracker, and make sure to stall him if necessary. I’m two minutes away from his office.” 

“Yes, Parker,” Eliot grimaces as he enters the main gallery packed with women in stunning dresses and diplomats in fancy suits. He smiles coyly at a blonde in a short pink dress and strappy heels. The room is bathed in bright incandescent light from three crystal chandeliers reflecting off the polished wood flooring. Walls of a gaudy golden-yellow hue add an overwhelming cliche look of high society and wealth. 

Eliot scans the faces in sight for his mark, but comes up empty. There are too many people moving in such a large space for him to accurately identify each individual. “Alright, Hardison. Direct me.” 

“Almost there,” Hardison says, continuing to type as the facial recognition software scans anyone and everyone’s face in view of a surveillance camera. A red box blinks and the computer chimes. “I got him! He’s at the southeast corner wearing a mauve tie.” 

“At least pretend like you’re a man and say, ‘purple’,” Eliot growls and makes his way through the throng of foreign accents and champagne flutes. When he makes it to the southeast corner, Eliot hesitates. “Okay. There are three purple ties and none are the mark. What the hell does mauve look like?”

The office door creaks open and Parker sneaks through, placing her lock picking tools back in their case attached to her belt. “I’m in. Five minutes.”

“Hurry up, Parker.” Eliot whispers, placing a hand to his ear. “Linster has two bodyguards shadowing him. I only have one shot at this before it becomes impossible.” 

Then he inhales sharply and turns his head. “And he also happens to be talking with someone who’s hired me before.” 

An older, shrewd looking woman with silver hair and a simple blue dress speaks with Linster, a slightly younger man with the flush of an indulgent, hedonistic man. She looks over in Eliot’s direction, but his identity does not register with her. 

“Get out of there, Eliot.” Parker tells him, pausing her search of the office to concentrate on the other matter. “If they notices you, they’ll notify security. We’ll find another way to track him. Hardison can keep an eye on him for now.”

Hardison rolls his eye. “Oh, sure Hardison can.” He groans, his voice heavy with sarcasm. “It’s not like I’m trying to listen to the guard’s radio which is mostly in Russian while keeping the office security cams on loop to keep them from detecting Parker, and keep both y’alls escape routes open. No, it’s fine. Just ‘cause I’m sitting, it means I’m not doing enough work. ‘Preciate it.” 

Parker finds a key on the desk and goes to unlock the cabinet that holds the safe. It opens at her touch without inserting the key. “That’s weird. The cabinet’s unlocked.” She whispers and opens it, revealing a rather large safe.

Eliot continues to hover around Linster. “No. We have to go now. Hardison, you sure this is going to work?”

“Listen, man. It ain’t an exact science, but the test runs I did on this were solid. Slip the tracker into his drink and we’ve got roughly a twenty-four hours time window to get him to lead us to his Russian mob buddies.” Hardison enlarges the video feed with Linster in it. “This dude is guzzling champagne. Make sure it gets in the next one and he won’t even notice..”

Eliot grabs a tray from a nearby table and removes all the champagne glasses but one. When no one is looking, he drops a small clear device into the glass. He moves toward Linster with the tray balanced on one hand and displays it in front of him, his back facing the older woman. “Another, sir?” 

Linster laughs and places his empty glass on the tray and reaches for the full glass. Before he can get to it, another diplomat tries to take it. Eliot instinctively pushes his hand away. The diplomat looks insulted and Eliot laughs nervously. “S-Sorry, sir, but this was sent over with the lady’s compliments.”

Eliot indicates toward the blonde from earlier in the pink dress who has been keeping an eye on Eliot. She flashes a smile at him, but Linster thinks it’s for him. 

Linster picks up the glass and takes a large gulp, winking at the woman in pink, who is now thoroughly confused and slightly disgusted. The older woman watches Eliot move away, her eyes narrowed with suspicion. 

The tray is tossed onto another table as Eliot moves through the crowd. “It’s done. I’m getting out of here. Pretty sure I just saw the Bulgarian ambassador that has a six figure bounty on my head.”

“What were we supposed to do, Eliot?” Hardison asks, nearly knocking over his orange soda with exasperated hand gestures. “I have to do the hacking, Parker has to do the thieving, so that left you. Not to mention, I’m already supposed to be Interpol in the other stage of the con.”

“What happened to the other grifters? That Nick Halden, guy?” Eliot asks, keeping himself to the sidelines of the party as much as possible. “Or Tara?”

“Yeah, or Freddie Stern or Joanna Kline or Kelly Fitzgerald.” Hardison lists with frustration and impatience. “We seem to be a magnet for amateurs and greedy close-minded crooks. Nobody appreciates our line of business.” 

Parker lifts her ear from the safe door. “We’re not calling Tara. We can do this. We just haven’t found our grifter replacement yet.” 

“Let’s focus on how to get me the hell out of here.” Eliot hisses as he picks up his pace. “This place is crawling with top-of-the-line security and there’s a big distance between me and the door. 

The safe clicks open and Parker grins. “Let’s go. I got the painting.” Parker orders as she carefully places the painting almost the size of a regular sheet of paper wrapped in brown paper into her messenger bag, trading it out with a forgery. An oil painting in cool colors depicting the artist’s impression of how music would look in visual representation. Georgia O’Keefe’s _Blue and Green Music_. 

Hardison checks the security cameras covering the exits. “Eliot, you’re guard friend just regained consciousness. You’ll need to head to the west exit. I’ll try to scramble his comms.”

“The west exit is across the room!” Eliot snaps, looking at the double doors with a gauntlet of expensive fabric and politicians in the way. Servers move in and out between diplomats like water around rocks. 

“Just take the service corridors and you’ll do fine.” Hardison assures him as a virtual blueprint of the building materializes on the screen. “Remember: you look like staff. If someone who knows you, spots you, you probably look like you’re hired as extra muscle to protect someone.”

Eliot looks both ways before entering through a plain white door in the wall. It opens into a quiet hallway. “Of they could think I’m here as a hitman or, I don’t know, a thief!”  
“I do not need your sass right now.” Hardison says as he turns his attention back to the security feeds with Parker in them. She secures her harness to the rig in the elevator before turning it on to ride all the way up. “Parker’s on her way out.”

“Give me a minute.” Eliot says. The exit is just in sight when two burly security men step out in front of him and block his path. Behind them, Eliot notices the trail of a red dress disappear. “Make it eight.” 

“Eliot Spencer.” The tallest of the two guards chides in his Russian accent as he places a hand on the gun in his hip holster. Two more guards fence him in from behind. “You must be getting sloppy in your retirement.”

Eliot glances behind him at the two and notices one of them is the bald guard he beat to gain entrance. He growls and Eliot flexes in preparation for a fight. “It’s not retirement, it’s just a different line of work.”

“What’s going on, Eliot?” Parker asks, gathering up her gear on the rooftop. “Do I need to go back in?”

“He’s gotten out of worse before. Give him a moment.” Hardison says. 

“He can’t fight his way out without making a scene. Can’t you set off a fire alarm or something?” Parker asks. 

“Talk about making a scene! If I do that, they might get suspicious and look into the safe. They’ll spot the fake before Linster hands it over to the Russians.” Hardison theorizes. “We just need Eliot to get those four guards off him and get out the freaking door without tipping off anybody in there with a bounty on his head.” 

“I’m working on it.” Eliot mutters as he tenses.

"So how will this be?” He asks his captors. “You take me to a room off the side? Rough me up a bit?” 

“How about -” Eliot began, but the head guard’s radio breaks out in static, interrupting Eliot. A broken voice, in Russia says “ _Urgent!_ ”. The guard looks at Eliot. 

Eliot shrugs. “No, man. You can take it.”

“Da?” He says into the intercom. 

A voice, half-covered in static, cries out in Russian. “ _He is -- distraction! His accomplice is on the run --- east service exit! I need back-up._ ”

The head security guard nods to the two guards behind Eliot in an urgent panic. “You two, get him somewhere secure. We’re going after his partner.”

The bald security guard and his burly look-alike drag him down the corridor and stop outside a side room. 

“How are your ribs?” Eliot asks the bald Russian. “Still a bit bruised?” He mocks before striking. 

Eliot steps on the guard’s foot and grabs his gun before kneeing him in the gut. As he gasps for air, the other guard swings wide with a right hook. Eliot easily blocks it and lands a kick into the abdomen, before using the butt of the gun to strike him across the forehead. 

The bald security guard grabs Eliot from behind, placing his head in a headlock. Eliot pulls at the large muscular arm and tries to slam the large body into the wall to no avail. Instead, Eliot winds up his leg and kicks the security guard squarely in the groin. 

He yelps and quickly releases Eliot before he crumples to the ground. “On my way out.” Eliot rasps, ejects the clip from the gun, clears the barrel, and tosses it. 

Looking around casually, Eliot smooths down his shirt and walks briskly to the exit. In his haste, he accidentally bumps into a woman in a long red dress leaving the building. The urgency to leave the building caused him to ignore her as he made his way out into the loading dock. 

The silver van squeals into the loading dock. The back doors open and Hardison motions for Eliot to hurry. “About time, man. Get in!” 

“Nice going with their radios.” Eliot says, out-of-breath when he enters the van. “Although, next time, if you could actually look at the guest list, that would be appreciated.”

“Radios?” Hardison asks and shakes his head. “I still had those scrambled. And by the way, when I was looking at the attendees, I wasn’t looking for people who wanted you dead. Besides, who doesn’t?” 

“Wait, then who saved my ass in there?” Eliot demands, rubbing his throat where the guard’s arm had been. 

Hardison shrugs, placing some of his equipment into the large duffel and the rest into a large black backpack. “Take the win.”

“That was not a win.” Parker says from the driver’s seat, her voice taut with anger. “That was too close to be anything but a near miss.” 

Eliot leans back, running over every detail again. The woman in the red dress. He tried to recall her face, but he couldn’t remember getting a clear view.


	2. Chapter 2

Back at their hotel, a barely three-star building not very far from the embassy, Hardison finishes putting his equipment together and hooking it up to a flat-screen TV in the room. Their small suite has two connecting bedrooms and a small shared space with a couch and armchairs where the TV is located. 

Eliot exits a bedroom wearing jeans and pulling a grey t-shirt over his head. Parker lounges on the couch with an exasperated look. “What have we got?” She asks. 

Hardison taps some keys. “Well, the next part of the con - hold up.” Hardison begins as static bursts on his laptop and something flashes and blinks on his screen. “It seems like someone is trying to - no, someone is hacking into my files. Oh, no you don’t!” He shouts and begins furiously typing code into a command prompt screen to shut it down. 

Both Eliot and Parker tense. “How can someone be hacking you?” Parker asks. “We’ve only been here a few days and haven't made contact with anyone.” 

Hardison shakes his head as something comes up on his screen. A window on his screen runs a tracking program while another looks for the source. “It’s a frequency coming from inside this room. The hacker is somewhere else. Look for the bug, I’ll look for him.”

Parker and Eliot immediately pull out their smartphones and, using a program on their phones, being sweeping the apartment. They hover their phones over everything, furniture, suitcases, pillows, mattresses, under the beds, anywhere they could reach their phones. 

“Wait, over here!” Parker shouts as her phone blares over her messenger bag.

They extract the painting and carefully search it until they notice a small black box with a blinking red light nestled on the back of the canvas. Right at the that moment, the red light turns off. “I lost the link.” Hardison tells them. “It must have been shut down from the other end. I’m still following the residual satellite links, but all I have is a general location.” 

“What did they get?” Parker asks while Eliot plucks the small device off the canvas. 

Hardison shakes his head. “I don’t know. I saw they were snooping around most recent files so they might have copies of embassy blueprints and information on the Ambassador. After that, though, I was occupied with finding the source rather than shutting it down so I didn’t get a good look at what they were looking for.”

Eliot drops the device in Hardison’s hand while looking at the GPS location blip on the laptop screen. “Where is that?” He asks and steps closer to the screen.

“It’s the five mile radius around where the signal may have come from.” Hardison replies and types a few commands into his keyboard to make the map zoom in on the location. “Our hacker is somewhere in there."

“A pawn shop, two warehouses…” Parker lists off as one of Hardison’s programs begin identifying the buildings by satellite imagery on the TV screen. “An abandoned factory, and -”

“The factory.” Eliot interrupts and points near the outer reach of the estimated area. “That’s our best bet.” Then he turns to Hardison, his mind working to piece together the recent chain of events. “Do you still have video surveillance of the gala last night?”

Hardison looks at Parker and then Eliot. “Yeah. Mind including us in this little epiphany?”

Eliot nods at the device. “I know that tech. It’s called a beacon. I knew the person who used to make them to unlock vaults from the inside.”

“Knew?” Parker emphasizes. “Is this another enemy we should be worried about?”

“No.” Eliot says with the strain of a bad memory. “They’re dead.” 

Eliot turns to Hardison. “Go through the footage and look for a woman in a red dress. I’m pretty sure she was following me.”

“Do you know how many women were wearing red dresses?” Hardison asks in frustration, not taking his eyes off of Eliot. 

“We should go check out the factory first.” Parker orders. “This hacker is more important than a suspicion.”

Eliot puts on a plain red hoodie. “No, I’ll go alone.”

Parker steps between Eliot and the door. “We’re a team. We can’t let you go alone.”

“I mean, I could. You wanna get beat up and all that on your own, I’m cool.” Hardison shrugs. 

Parker growls. “Not. Helping.”

Eliot stares at Parker with determination. “No one knows that tech except a few people. Most of them are dead, except for me and a ew others. If they were friend’s of Jack, they’re friends of mine. I should be safe.”

“That’s the problem. Should.” Parker says, crossing her arms. “The embassy was almost a mess, we can’t afford any more mistakes.” 

“These people work alone.” Eliot explains, his voice low and serious. “Like I used to. I know how they think and they won’t trust me with a team.” He steps closer to Parker. “I know what I’m doing, so let me do my job.”

“Fine.” Parker agrees. “But we’ll follow in the van for backup.” 

“But I just set up -” Hardison whines as he starts to tear down his equipment. “Oh, sure. Eliot wants to go punch something by himself and brood and such, so we have to follow behind. No respect for my setup. It’s cool, though. It’s cool.”

They grab their bags as they head down to the lobby. Parker gets into the driver’s seat of the van as Eliot gets into the other rental they have, an old black Buick. 

Hardison starts setting up his laptop and other equipment as Eliot pulls out of the parking lot. “I have a bad feeling about this, man.” Hardison tells them as he turns on comms. 

“Why?” Parker asks sarcastically. “It’s not like we’re following Eliot to some abandoned factory in Moscow where some dead guy hacked into our computers.”

Eliot groans audibly. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“I’m going to start the facial recognition scan now.” Hardison reports as he tries to set the program parameters to women in red dresses. “Luckily, no expense was spared on the embassy camera qualities and we have color.”

“Who was Jack, anyway?” Parker asks, keeping a good distance between their van and Eliot’s car. Hardison’s computer beeps as it identifies five women in red dresses and searches for a front-view of their faces. 

Eliot maintains a visual on the silver van. “An accident specialist. Don’t ask me what that means.”

“Well, three of the five are clean. One is the Ukrainian Ambassador’s wife, one reporter, and one - ouch, mistress or escort of something, but nothing serious.” The fourth face runs through the system quickly. “The fourth woman is a translator for the Peruvian Ambassador.” 

“I thought you said there were five.”

Hardison shakes his head as the program runs. “There are, but the fifth one somehow avoided getting her face on camera. Any camera. You’re right about her following you.” Hardison says as he watches the woman follow down the service corridors where there are even less cameras. “Sorry, man. She was good.”

“Keep your distance.” Eliot tells them as he closes the rental’s door behind him and looks up at the three story concrete and metal building. Most of its windows are busted and broken and it seems to stretch on in the distance. “It’s been a long time since I hung out with this crowd.” 

The side door next to the large garage door is locked, but Eliot kicks the handle. The door splinters open and Eliot cautiously walks in. “I’m in,” He says. 

Hardison types away on his keyboard and seems to be coming up with nothing. “I can’t find anything else on this woman except she apparently came in with our very own Ambassador Linster.” Hardison relays to Eliot, zooming in on the guest list as the two come in the entrance. The woman was very careful to keep her face covered with her hand. 

“Help me out here, Hardison. Any cameras?” Eliot asks as he tries to navigate through the dark factory. The factory floor is littered with rusting old metal parts and tools strewn about. Little creatures scurry around in the dark. The lights overhead, even if they had been working, would not provide much light since multiple bulbs were broken or missing. 

Above Eliot, on the second floor connected by both sides with a catwalk, was a command room. The same place the administrator or factory foreman would oversee its workers. It was most likely where any security cameras could be accessed. The most interesting part was it’s beacon of light in the darkness. 

“The security is ancient, practically nonexistent.” Hardison reports. “I can’t see anything that goes on in there, but neither can the hacker.”

Parker enters the back of the van. “Story time, Eliot. What has gotten into you? Spill.” 

Eliot climbs steep steps to the second floor catwalk. “Jack was a good partner. We were paired up for jobs a lot.” It was a long metal bridge that, in the dark, seemed almost invisible. “Jack disappeared for a while. Off grid. Months later we both got a job in Roubaix: a garden variety heist at La Piscine. As I was heading to the apartment for our briefing… it exploded.”

There was a figure at the end of the catwalk exiting the command rooms. She is dressed head to toe in dark grey with a dark scarf wrapped around her face and a thick black leather jacket. Her brown hair is tied back into a ponytail. 

Eliot steps forward and the catwalk creaks. The woman sharply turns and sees Eliot. “Wait!” He cries out, but she shoulders her duffel bag and runs down an adjacent corridor. 

“I got the hacker! She’s heading toward the factory floor!” Eliot shouts and pursues, jumping down the staircase halfway. 

“We’ve got company,” Parker warns Eliot as she peeks out the window of their van. A black cargo van pulls up to the abandoned factory, “looks like our Russians.”

“What are the Russians doing here?” Eliot demands, catching up to the hacker. He jumps over a work table and blocks off the exit to the woman. She instantly drops the duffel bag and aims a punch for Eliot’s stomach. Eliot blocks, but she sweeps his legs, causing him to become unbalanced and fall back on the table. 

She grabs the duffel and pushes past, but Eliot grabs the duffel bag and pulls. She kicks at his knees, but he blocks and throws a punch with his free hand. The hacker dodges and instead of pulling on the duffel bag, she pushes full force into Eliot, throwing him up on the table.

Eliot feels around and grasps a pipe. He swings it at her, but she blocks and punches him in the face. Eliot is stunned for a moment and the hacker takes his hand that’s clutching the duffel bag and hits it against the corner of the table until he lets go. 

Before she reaches the door, Eliot drops down from the table and yanks on the mat under her feet. The hacker falls and Eliot is immediately on her. “Who sent you? How did you get the beacon?” 

He pulls back the scarf revealing sharp cheekbones and thin pale lips with a scar nicking the bottom. Paired with the piercing amber eyes, Eliot placed the pieces together. “Jack?”

“Get out of there, Eliot!” Parker screams into the comms. 

Eliot shakes his head. “There’s no way you could have survived that explosion.”

Jack pushes Eliot off her and leaps for the door, opening it and exiting. 

Eliot gets to his feet and follows after. “I’m going after her.”

“Eliot, no!” Parker exclaims. 

“I don’t know if you noticed, but there is a van full of nasty-looking Russian mob dudes like a trigger-happy clown car.” 

Jack walks calmly toward the Russians, readjusting the scarf against the winter chill. Two of them are heavily tattooed and not wearing the excessive layers someone used to a warmer climate would in the freezing weather. 

One Russian stands in between the two muscular tattooed Russians. Thin, grey hairs barely cover his head and he leans forward with a slight hunch, yet his eyes are young and sharp. 

“What do you have? I wish to inspect to make sure you don’t waste our time.” The grey-haired Russian demands. 

Jack opens her duffel bag for him to look into. He peers in and the Russians move out to sweep the area. 

Parker, back in the driver’s seat, takes photos of the Russians with her camera. On shot gets a good profile of the grey-haired Russian.“That’s Yuri. Second-in-command.” She shakes her head. “Nothing is going to plan.” 

“Tell me about it.” Hardison says as the pictures relay to his computer and he runs them through a database. “The other dudes, they’re bad. They’re worse than bad. Most are involved in drugs, mobs, murders… hired guns. All tied to the Volki mafia. Looks like we found our art smuggling ring.”

Eliot watches from behind the building, but is suddenly seized by two more Russians. They bring him forward with Jack. 

Eliot remains quiet as on of the Russians who grabbed him, frisks him. “Are you mute too, eh?” 

“Unlike you, I know when not to speak.” Eliot growls once he is cleared. 

“Who is this?” Yuri demands, gesturing at Eliot. 

Jack gestures to herself and yanks the duffel bag from Yuri’s hands. 

Yuri sighs. “He’s with the thief. He comes with us.”

Jack enters the van the van, turns to Eliot, and motions for him to follow. The burly Russian behind him wasn’t giving him a choice as they press him closer to the van. Eliot squeezes into the back of the van, a little too close to the other Russians for comfort. 

Parker starts up the van and waits for the Russians to get a head start. “Well, if they take us directly to the Russians, it negates everything we did this morning. Yippee.” She groans. 

Hardison leans back and look toward Parker in the front seat. “Hey, it just means the plan moves forward faster is all.” 

Parker shakes her head. “No, I should’ve pulled this job. We should never have done this with just the three of us. A Russian art smuggling ring? What was I thinking?” She sighs and bats away tears. “What was Nate thinking… putting me in charge?”


	3. Chapter 3

The van pulls up to a nondescript grey airport hangar on the outskirts of the Vnukovo International Airport. The large gate in front is open revealing a stockpile of crates inside. 

“Ah!” A heavy set Russian man exclaims as Yuri and the four Russians mobsters exit the van and escort Eliot and Jack inside. “What do I owe such a pleasure of seeing you again, Ana?” The man asks and looks at her duffel bag. “Painting? Statue? What have you brought Dimitri? Alexi, come here.”

Ana flashes a smile, clearly using being the only woman in the room to her advantage. She signs in Russian sign language to the Alexi, the tallest of the Volki mob members. Alexi steps forward as a translator. “She says she brings American buyer and some items she lifted from the Embassy party. She got bored.”

Jack tosses the duffle bag. Dimitri nods for one of his men to open it. Wrapped in the red dress, the Russian pulls out shiny gemstone jewelry and hands it to Dimitri who laughs. “Well done. I will wire you our usual finder’s fee.” 

“We’re in position, Eliot.” Hardison tells Eliot. Their van stationed near the tarmac, but not yet passed security. “Just say the word and we’ll find you a way out.”

“This is good news.” Dimitri says and clasps his hands together. “We have many goods waiting for the right person with the right taste. What does he want?”

Eliot hesitates, not having anything prepared. Jack signs to Alexi. 

“She says he wants the Rotterdam Monet from two years ago.” Alexi translates. “And the O’Keefe from Chicago.” 

“The last one has not been delivered yet.” Dimitri informs them. “But the Monet - the Monet we still have. I can arrange for shipment back to the States in week or so. Where specifically should this be delivered?” 

Eliot shakes his head. “A week? No, I need to be back in New York in three days.” 

“The earliest will be one week.” Dimitri reiterates. “We use a special courier to get these goods through customs. We must keep to his schedule or it will look suspicious.”

Eliot scoffs. “I have a lot of interested buyers who don’t like to wait. If you can’t accommodate me, then I’ll look elsewhere.” 

“What are you doing Eliot?” Parker grimaces, watching through binoculars.

Dimitri’s eyes narrow. “How did you hear of us?”

“You think you’re the only one Ana works for?” Eliot asks, ignoring the seething glare from Jack. “Sometimes my buyers are very particular and want items not on the market. She gets them for me. You should thank her. She lets me know what you have so I can see if my buyers want it. I’m just not sure you have the best set up.” 

“And how many buyers do you have?” Dimitri asks. 

“Try not to get dead, Eliot.” Hardison warns, burying his face in his hands. 

Eliot shrugs. “A whole network. Most are in the States, but I’ve got my fingers in all sorts of pies.” 

Dimitri smirks. “But they have you around their finger, yes? They want their merchandise within a time limit or poof, no deal?” 

“Your Ambassador can only really go between Russia and America. You need a courier that has free range.” Eliot explains. “Like an Interpol officer.” 

“What?” Hardison and Parker scream. 

Dimitri laughs. “You think we would trust Interpol?” 

“You don’t have to.” Eliot says. “I will. Get me those paintings in three days and I’ll transport them myself. How much you want for them?”

“Five million for the Monet. Two for the O’Keefe.” Dimitri relays. “That’s without the fee for using my transport service. I’m feeling generous.”

Eliot nods. “I’ll let my buyers know, but I don’t think they’ll take the Monet for more than four.” 

“That is your buyer’s problem. Not mine.” 

Eliot indicates his head to Ana. “I’ll return in two days with the money. I’ll want the O’Keefe then too.” 

Jack signs to Alexi, “ _Is my bike still here?_ ” 

He nods. “Usual place.” 

Jack walks toward the hangar and Eliot follows. 

“Wait, American.” Dimitri calls after. “I think I’d like to meet your courier.” 

Eliot shakes his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Wouldn’t want you poaching my best investment, would I?”

Jack locates her motorcycle in the hangar and puts on the helmet. She mounts the motorcycle and turns the key, illuminating Eliot in the headlights. 

“ _I should run you over_.” She signs to him in American Sign Language. 

“ _You_ introduced _me_ as a buyer.” Eliot apologizes. “Besides, I have my own reasons for wanting to get close to the Volki and their smuggling ring.” 

Parker packs away the binoculars. “We’ll meet up at the hotel. Don’t mess this up, Eliot.” 

Jack taps the seat behind her. “ _Get on. Let’s talk about this someplace private_.” 

Yuri watches the two from afar with a suspicious sneer. 

***

Eliot holds the door open for Jack as she enters, her hand to her hip where he suspects a knife is concealed. She moves through the rooms, checking for anyone else. 

When she returns to the main room, Parker is standing by Eliot and Hardison is hooking up his laptop. Jack immediately tenses for a fight. 

Eliot holds out his hands. “Woah, woah, Jack. They’re part of my team.”

“Your team? Who is the leader of this group?” Parker shouts. “Because I’m pretty sure Nate put me in charge.”

Jack leans back. “ _I don’t do teams anymore_.” She signs and points at Eliot. “ _You help me fix this mess you got me in and we’re even for my saving your life_.”

“We need you Jack.” Eliot pleads. “Just hear us out.” 

Jack crosses her arms and glares. 

“Almost set up.” Hardison says.

Eliot motions to Jack. “What’s with the silent treatment?” 

Jack opens her mouth causing Eliot to cringe. Hardison glances up and gags while Parker makes a disgusted face and moves away. “Who’d you piss off to do that?” Eliot asks. 

Jack stares, but doesn’t reply. 

“Here we go.” Hardison says and taps a few keys until their plans appear on the TV screen. “Our mission is to take down the Ambassador and get him charged for the Chicago theft of Green and Blue Music, the Georgia O’Keefe painting.”

“ _Why_?” Jack signs. “ _I stole it. What’s in it for you_?” 

Hardison shakes his head. “I don’t know what that was so I’m going to move forward.” He clears his throat. “Our original plan was to steal the original painting and swap it with a fake that Linster would turn over to the Russians. We’d flood the dark net with claims that the real one was on sale to force the Russian’s to check its authenticity. By the time they discovered it was a fake, we would follow Linster back into the States, plant the real one on him, and boom. He gets arrested and the Russian mobs will pull their protection from him because they think he tried to double cross them.” 

Parker scowls. “But now that’s changed. We need to adjust the plan.” 

“Why do you want Linster arrested?” Jack asks. 

“There’s a security guard, Alberto Reyes, taking the fall for him in Chicago thanks to you. We’re going to take down the people responsible.” Parker replies. 

“You can read sign language?” Hardison asks. 

Parker shrugs. “Duh. It’s the best communication if you have to talk through glass or be dead silent.” 

“ _Are you saying you’re doing this… to free the guard_?” Jack asks. 

Eliot nods. “You did a good job. Stealing the painting is the only proof we have to exonerate him.” 

“ _Rule forty-five_.” Jack signs. “ _It’s my job to be a ghost_.” 

“What’s rule forty-five?” Parker asks. 

“Hey, if y’all want to get back to the talking out loud stuff to clue me in, I wouldn’t mind being a part of this thing.” Hardison complains. 

“Rule forty-five is ‘No one investigates a crime they don’t know happened’. They didn’t know of Jack’s involvement, so they don’t go looking for her,” Eliot explains. 

Jack gestures to the TV and the intel. “ _So where do I come in_?”

“You don’t.” Parker says. “You’re not a part of this.” 

Eliot grimaces at Parker. “We need someone on the inside they trust to continue on without suspicion.” 

“ _I also have a job to do that you intercepted_.” Jack signs. “ _That beacon was meant for the Volki's vault_.”

“What do you want from there? The Monet?” Eliot asks. 

Hardison types on his computer and mutters, “You know, I’m just gonna wait until someone tells me what to do. Just gonna play a little minesweeper or something. Don’t mind me.” 

Jack nods. “ _I’m interested in information right now and someone is willing to trade for this painting_.”

Parker stands. “Fine. We go through with this. In two days, we get seven million ready to pay for the paintings. In the meantime, we need to get the Russian mob against Linster and vice versa. Can’t do the fake painting idea, so we’ll just plant some evidence and statements. We need the mob to drop him before Linster goes to the States in five days.”

“I can try to sell him on Hardison as our Interpol courier and get him to buy into it.” Eliot suggests. 

“Hardison gets through customs with the Interpol I.D. and we plant the painting in the States. Just like before, but with a twist.” Parker turns to Eliot. “No more surprises.”

“Parker, we deal in surprises.” Eliot grumbles. 

“ _I get the Monet_?” Jack asks. 

Parker nods. “And then we go our separate ways.”

“ _Perfect_.” Jack signs. 

A video call pops up. The caller ID reads: NATE FORD.

They all perk up with Parker being the most nervous. “Do you think he’s heard?”

“Only one way to find out.” Hardison says and pushes the ‘answer’ button.

Nate and Sophie’s faces shows up on the TV screen and Hardison turns around the laptop. “We’re all here, Nate.” He says as he walks out from behind the laptop to stand in front. Jack moves away from the camera’s reach, but listens. 

“We’ve got some bad news, folks. Is everyone here?” Nate asks looking around.

“You’ve got the team.” Parker says with a tone of disappointment. “We haven’t found your replacements yet.” 

“That’s quite alright.” Sophie says in her encouraging mother voice. “I’m sure you three can handle any problem.” 

They avoid each other’s eyes. “Is everything alright?” Nate asks. 

“Not if you have bad news for us, bruh.” Hardison says. 

Nate sighs. “Damien Moreau… he was released from San Lorenzo prison two months ago.” 

“What?” All three shout in unison. 

“How could this happen?” Eliot snaps. 

“There was no way he could get out!” Hardison says. 

“Where is he now?” Parker shouts. 

Nate shakes his head. “We don’t know where he is, but somehow paperwork was filed for him to receive parole. A rookie guard didn’t question it and released him. He’s in the wind now.” 

“He didn’t have any visitors at the time and no one to communicate with. We’re not sure how this got by.” Sophie adds. 

Eliot shakes his head. “He’s Moreau. He makes a way.” 

“He comin’ for all our asses.” Hardison groans. 

“Now, now. He’s weak. We may not see any activity from him for months or years. He likes to work the long game.” Nate warns. “So be vigilant.”

“You, too.” Parker says. “You may be retired, but you’re not out of the game.” 

A pause hangs over the group. “We know, Parker.” Sophie replies. “Just be careful.” 

The call ends and the three sit down on the couch. 

“He’s out.” Hardison says with shock. 

“We can’t seem to take down a simple Ambassador and now we might have Moreau to deal with.” Parker groans. 

Jack snaps her fingers to get their attention. “ _I’m in_.” She signs. 

Eliot narrows his eyes. “Why do you want to take Moreau down?” 

“ _Remember the job? Nine years ago? The explosion_?” Jacks asks.

“Yeah? I thought you died. Everyone did.” Eliot replies. 

“Can someone clue me in?” Hardison gripes. Parker leans over to him to translate. 

“ _That was his trap. His bomb_.” She signs. “ _You weren’t in the apartment. I barely made it out_.” Jack lifts up the back of her shirt to show the patterns of a healed burn wound. It winds up her back, a twisting imprint of the intense flames from the bomb. “ _Took me years to recover_.” 

Hardison points to his mouth in reference to Jacks tongue. “He do that too?” 

Jack shakes her head, _no_.

Parker purses her lips. “Alright, newbie. This is a trial period. If we all agree at the end, you can be a part of Leverage International.” 

“ _Leverage International_?” Jack finger spells with a questioning expression. 

Eliot nods. “Do we need to get anything for you from where you’re staying?” 

“The factory is a burn now that you know about it.” Jack signs. “But it’s the location the Volki pick me up if I have hot goods that need moving fast.”

Eliot nods. “You should stay here tonight. We need to stick together.” 

“Oh, now the plan is to stick together, huh?” Parker asks pointedly to Eliot. 

Eliot sighs and turns to her. “Look -” 

Parker stops him. “I understand. Just… a heads up next time would be great.” 

“You got it, boss.”


	4. Chapter 4

Hardison approaches the queen-sized bed that Parker is sitting on top of. “Penny for your thoughts.”

Parker clutches a pillow to her chest. “We should drop this case. It’s too risky. We should focus on Moreau.”

Hardison slips under the covers and sighs. “You heard Nate. Moreau won’t make a move until he’s got a full proof plan. If he surfaces anywhere, we’ll look into it. Right now, we’d just be chasing our own tail.” 

Parker looks down at Hardison with a smile. “You’re right.” 

“You know, Parker.” Hardison says and takes Parker’s hand. “You’re not doing this alone. We’re a team. We solve our problems together.” 

“Do we?” Parker asks.

Hardison shrugs. “Things get bumpy all the time. We work through it. We always have and always will.”

On the other side of the bedroom doors, Jack and Eliot sit on the couch. She indicates her head to the closed door that leads to the room Parker and Hardison sleep in. “ _Are they a thing_?” Jack asks. 

Eliot nods and Jack makes a disgusted face. “ _This is the last place I expected you. The whole team thing_.”

“Where did you think I’d be?” Eliot signs. 

“ _I thought you were dead_.” She replies. “ _The trap? The apartment explosion? It was meant for you. It was a neat job too. With someone like that after you, I thought you wouldn’t make it two years._ ”

Eliot shrugs. “I’ve pissed off a lot of people, I could’ve been any of them.” He says. “But I’ve never got my tongue cut out.”

Jack frowns. “ _It’s the people who don’t try to kill you that should worry you. It means they think they can use you_.”

“Who did it?” Eliot asks.

Jack shakes her head, but her hands stay still. 

“What kind job -”

“ _I did the right thing. I did a good thing and so I was punished_.” Jack signs and then gestures to the Hardison and Parker’s room. “ _They are not us… killers. We can never wash the blood off. ‘All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.’_ ”

“Lady Macbeth, huh?” Eliot chuckles. “A little cliche. Listen Jack, I’ve been going straight and narrow for the last seven years. You can too.”

“ _When I tried, I was made mute and then almost blown up_.” Jack explains. “ _I’m too far gone to do good now_.” 

Eliot stands and shakes his head. “I refuse to believe that.” 

***

Ambassador Linster sits at his desk writing and signing documents. He sighs and checks his watch just as the intercom beeps. 

He presses the button. “Yes?” 

“Anastasia Dumanovsky is here to see you.” The voice through the intercom says. 

Linster’s face brightens. “Well, send her up.” He starts to arrange the documents on his desk neatly and check his appearance in the reflection on his computer. 

Parker, Hardison, and Eliot are stuffed into the van. Parker and Hardison are dressed in street clothes while Eliot borrowed style tips from the Volki mobsters. “I have a bad feeling about this.” Parker says.

“Why?” Eliot asks.

“Because we can’t hear anything she signs. She could be warning him or something for all we know.” Parker says. 

Eliot shakes his head. “She won’t. She said she would help us.”

“How can you be so confident?” Parker asks. 

“Did you sleep with her?” Hardison asks. “You know? In the past? She was your partner, right?”

“What kind of question is that?” Eliot snaps. 

Parker stares down Eliot. “A valid one. How do we know we can trust your opinion of her?” 

Eliot grimaces. “Do you trust me?” 

“ _You know I can hear you, right_?” A mechanical voice chimes. 

All three look at each other with confusion and surprise. “Is that - is that Jack?” Hardison asks. 

“ _Remember the message that got the Russian’s off your tail, Eliot_?” The voice says again with choppy pronunciation like a bad translator. “ _I made an app for my phone that sends text to voice. I hooked it up to comms before we left_.”

Hardison types on his keyboard. “Yeah, I’m seeing an extra link in our comms.” He taps the table with frustration. “How did I miss that?”

“Because you both are way too interested in my sex life.” Eliot mutters. 

Just as Linster finishes smoothing back his hair, Jack gently knocks at the door and enters wearing a short blue dress under her silver coat and holding a small handbag. Linster stands and embraces her. “Ah, Ana. What do I owe the pleasure?”

Jack flashes a smile and types on a smartphone with her. “ _I was thinking lunch. Park Presnenskiy_?” A female voice reads out loud. 

“We could get some of that Serbian food.” He says with a look of delight. “It’s a date! Let me just finish up some paperwork.”

“ _Of course_.” Jack types and moves toward the door. “ _I’ll be just outside_.”

Hardison leans back in his seat. “How come she didn’t use that earlier?”

“ _Why didn’t you learn sign language earlier_?” The voice responds into the comms. 

Parker zips up her jacket. “Time to move.” she says. “Let’s get to the park.”

“That Serbian food sounds great. Let’s get some of that.” Eliot adds. 

***

Park Presnenskiy is full of children running around, couples going for afternoon walks, and people just enjoying the snow and skeletal trees. Hardison remains in the van while Eliot hovers menacingly by a fountain and Parker perches in a tree with her binoculars. 

“Okay, so we have a few banks, a children’s school, and several government buildings surrounding this park. We gotta play this safe or the local police will be on us in minutes.” Hardison warns from inside the van, parked on the outskirts of the park. 

Eliot shrugs his shoulders. “What are you talking about, Hardison? We’re not firing any shots.”

“ _I wasn’t saying that to you_.” Hardison says. 

Jack and the Ambassador walk down a path, arm in arm. “You left the party so early last night, I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

“ _An emergency came up at work. I had to address it_.” Jack types. 

“Of course.” Linster says. “I bet you get a lot of those. You work for…”

“ _The Office of International Engagement_.” Jack’s device says. “ _But it’s someone else’s problem now, so I thought I could apologize for leaving with a lovely lunch_.”

Linster takes Jack’s hands and grins. “Thank you.”

As they pass the fountain where Eliot is, he and Linster make eye contact. Eliot glares and breaks the stare, looking away to feign nonchalance. 

The Ambassador looks away, but glances back nervously. Eliot follows casually, but with clear intent.

“ _What is wrong_?” Jack types, looking at Linster with concern as he picks up the pace. 

“N-nothing, my dear.” Linster says, as he begins to sweat. “I just think… I remembered I have some time sensitive paperwork back at the office.” 

Jack looks behind them and notices Eliot following. “ _Is it him_?” She asks. 

“Don’t look.” 

“ _Who is he_?” 

“I-I can’t… I don’t know.” Linster stutters. “We need to go back to the Embassy.” 

Eliot turns away from Linster. “I think we’ve got him good and scared.”

“Alright.” Parker says. “Let’s see if Jack can get the rest from him.” 

A child under the tree Parker is stationed in, points up at her. “ _Look, look! What a funny looking bird_!” The kid says jokingly in Russian to his friends. 

One of his friends looks around. “ _Why aren’t we allowed to climb the trees_?”

“Don’t you have a parent to torment or something? Go!” Parker shouts down at them. 

***

Back in the Ambassador’s office, Jack hands Linster a cup of mint tea. He takes it in both of his hands, still a little shaken.

“ _Tell me. What is going on? Who was that man_?” Jack types. 

Linster shakes his head. “No, no. I couldn’t drag you into this.” 

“ _I’m with OIE_.” Jack assures him. “ _I’m here to protect American interests. That includes you_.” 

He lifts the cup of tea to his mouth and takes a sip, considering her point. “It’s dangerous.”

“ _I work with Homeland Security. I can handle it_.” Jack types. 

“We’re losing him.” Parker groans.

Eliot jumps into the van. “Jack’s been working this man for a whole year, She knows what she’s doing.” 

“Do we have a backup plan?” Hardison asks. “Like a phone call from the president or something?” 

“I’ll figure something out if we need it.” Parker mutters. 

Linster sets down his cup and turns to Jack. “What do you know of the Volki?” 

“ _They’re a minor gang, mostly dealing in smuggling and money laundering. Not too heavy on violent crime_.” 

“Not anymore.” Linster scoffs. “They have some information on me. Sensitive stuff. Dimitri, the head of the operation, has been blackmailing me to take his merchandise to America and smuggle merchandise back. I’m some sort of trained dog to him.” 

He taps his fingers on the table with frustration and agitation. “I have no choice but do what they want.” 

“ _I know someone. Someone who does this kind of work. Like a fixer. Do you know where the blackmail evidence is kept_?” Jack asks. 

Linster shakes his head. “No. But I know that Yuri keeps track of everything.”

“Cool.” Hardison says sarcastically. “I’m sure that dinosaur knows how to keep clean files on a computer. This is gonna suck.” 

“ _I can work on that_.” Jack says, a brief flicker of annoyance crossing her face as if a pesky fly buzzes constantly around her head. “ _You're not safe here. If anything goes wrong with the plan, they can come after you. You need to get out of Russia. Permanently. Back to the U.S_.”

Linster's mouth hangs open in fear. "But my life is here. _You're_ here."

“ _It would be safer if you go alone._ ” Jack types. " _Besides, I can't leave my job._ "

Linster shakes his head. “I can’t leave without you.” 

“What is she doing?” Parker demands. “She has him! Stop messing around.” 

Jack goes to type a response, but Linster takes it out of her hands. “I know this is forward, but I have a house in Montana. Lovely estate. We could retire there. I-I have money stashed away. Savings. We could live comfortably.”

She grabs her phone, but hesitates over the keys. “ _Okay_.” She finally responds and checks the time. “ _I have a meeting to go to_.”

On her way out, Jack grabs her coat. Linster watches her leave, but a look of suspicion crosses his face. 

***

The door to the team’s hotel room opens and Jack storms in. She throws the earpiece at Eliot. “ _I’m done_.” she signs. “ _You guys chattering away in my head, I closed the deal too soon! It was out-of-character. He’ll notice!_ ” 

“Calm down.” Hardison says and mimics texting on a phone. “Use your words so everybody can hear you.” 

Jack flips him off and Hardison grimaces. “You see? This was a bad idea.” 

“No. We finish the con.” Parker intercedes. “And Jack is now our only way in.” 

“ _You just make the deal with Dimitri, cut out Linster, and force him home_.” Jack signs. “ _That’s it. You don’t need me. I’m out_.” 

“Wait, Jack. Wait.” Eliot pleads and gets to the doors before her. 

Parker points the remote at the TV. “Change of plans.” She says and pushes a button to bring up images of the Russian mob, a map connecting characters to other shady-looking men in suits, and at the center: Damien Moreau. “Turns out Moreau still has ties to the Volki. They launder money for him.”

The remote drops to the table and Parker crosses her arms. “We’re taking these Russians down.” 

Jack storms back into the room. “ _The Volki have been established here for decades and you think you can just take them down in a few days?_ ” Jack asks. 

Eliot steps in. “Remember Algeria? We took down that gang -”

“ _Those ex-cons? They were nothing_.” Jack turns to Parker. “ _These are career criminals. If you chase two rabbits, you’ll catch neither. Choose one: Linster or the Volki_.”

“Both.” Parker replies. 

“H-hold up there, Parker.” Hardison intercedes. “This job is shaky at best. Right now we’ll be lucky to fulfil our promise to Mr. Reyes and get Linster arrested.”

Parker scoops up the remote, ignoring the doubters. “We’ll target Yuri.” She begins as a picture of the older Russian appears. “He’s been there the longest and is still second fiddle to Dimitri who, let’s be honest, rose to the ranks through nepotism. His father, Oleg, practically handed it to him despite the fact that Dimitri did nothing but spend business money...” 

Clicking the button repeatedly, more pictures show of Dimitri. Some with his big fancy house and family and the others show expensive items he owns like a speed boat and sports car. “Dimitri has been given everything. He expects everything to go his way because his name carries weight, but he’s just upholding a successful smuggling ring his father started.” 

“You think if we incite a coup between Yuri and Dimitri, we can destroy them from the inside?” Eliot asks. 

A list appears on screen with hundreds of stolen artifacts, paintings, and high-end collectibles. “Dimitri’s father was smart. Learned to launder hot and hard to move stolen merchandise by storing it until it cooled off and selling it. These works of art and such could be traded for drugs or protection and be worth three times the investment in a few years.” Parker explains. 

A picture of Yuri appears. “Yuri worked alongside Oleg. He helped run and maintain the smuggling scheme and now Dimitri is in charge, but Yuri is doing all the work. They have clear disagreements, especially when it comes to spending.” 

Hardison pulls up his phone. “Yeah. It seems like Dimitri has been recklessly putting money into politicians for his get-out-of-jail-free card, but he hasn’t sold a damn thing since becoming king of his little hill. How does he pay his men?”

“He probably has some money for their payroll, but it’s nothing to his.” Eliot adds. “And it won’t last.”

Parker presses another button and a flow chart detailing their plan appears. “I’ve made a rough sketch of what we’ll need to do. I was thinking the Polish Minuet.” 

“That worked against Germans. These are Russians.” Eliot disagrees. “Our best bet is the Russian Wedding Ring.”

“We’d need a third mob for that.” Hardison argues. 

“Guys.” Parker says. 

Eliot points at himself and holds up three fingers. “Substitute my transport service and you’ve got the three rings.” 

“Guys!” Parker shouts. 

“What?” Eliot and Hardison demand in unison. 

Parker covers her face. “Jack’s gone.” 

Hardison rolls his eyes. “Aw, hell no!” He points accusingly at Eliot. “This is on you man.”

“If you would’ve kept your mouth shut on comms - “

“Eliot!” Parker interrupts. Eliot stops in his tracks. “I hate to say it, but we need her. Get her back.” 

Eliot grabs his coat. “I can talk to her, but you can’t force Jack to do anything she doesn’t want to.”

***

The abandoned factory hides under a fresh blanket of snow, the only thing disturbing it are tracks from a motorcycle and boot prints. 

Inside the control booth, Jack is dressed in all dark clothes again, stuffing a duffel bag with the contents of a metal box she retrieved from under a grate on the floor. It contains a few old-looking books, small electronic devices including several phones, thick bricks of Russian rubles, and a plastic envelope full of important documents and passports.

Jack shifts the weight of the duffel bag to her shoulder when a ringtone cuts through the air. She fumbles for her phone in her pockets and pulls it out. Unknown number.  
She answers. 

“Running, are we?” The silky voice of a man says. He laughs. “No need to answer that, I know you can’t. I just need to you listen. I’m watching you. You will do as instructed or I will destroy any and all information you’re looking for. You want revenge, I want revenge. Quid. Pro. Quo.” 

There’s a pause and Jack goes to hang up. “One more thing, _Kira_.” Jack cringes at the name. “Ty skorpion. Oni lyagushki.” 

The dial tone rings in Jack’s ear as the man hangs up. She throws the phone at the wall in rage and breaks it. 

***

The door to the Leverage team’s hotel room bursts open and Jack enters.

“Geez, woman! Did you have to break the door?” Hardison yells, sitting at his laptop set up in the shared living area. 

“ _You tell me what to do and I’ll get it done. How I get it done is up to me. These are my terms_.” Jack signs. 

“Woah, hold up. I gotta get the other two back from their goose chase.” Hardison says and then places a finger to his ear. “Hey guys, your little lost lamb came back and I don’t have a translator.” 

Eliot and Parker, at the abandoned factory are shivering and rubbing their hands together for warmth. “It’s about damn time.” Eliot growls.

“Keep her there, Hardison.” Parker says. “We’re on our way back.” 

Hardison looks at Jack who sits down in an armchair, pulls out a knife and whetstone, and starts sharpening it. “Eliot, please hurry. She gives me the creeps, man.”

“Just be quiet and you’ll be fine.” 

The sound of the knife gliding over the stone pierces through the still air in the hotel room. Hardison looks up at Jack who stares at the knife as if in thought, not in a menacing way. He goes back to typing on his laptop, but can’t help looking up every time he hears the knife sound. 

“I think your knife is sharp. You good.” Hardison says. “Eliot says you like quiet, so can you let me do my thing in peace.” 

Jack puts away the knife and whetstone and moves to Hardison, getting in his personal space. She pulls out a different phone than the one she broke. “ _What is ‘your thing’_?” 

Hardison visible fights the urge to shove her away. “It’s… my thing is… could you not touch that?” He says and bats her hands away from his laptop. “I’m the hacker. This is what I do. I’m…”

“ _You’re trying to dig up the dirt the Russians have on Linster_.” The device reads. 

“Yeah, you know anything?” Hardison asks. 

Jack gestures at the keyboard in a question as if she could use it. Hardison grits his teeth. “You think you got this? You think you can just hack into the SVR database? These Russians do not play around with their security and hell, if we get caught, you and I are both in a whole lot of trouble, but nah. Sure. You’re Russian. I’m sure hacking looks easy to all y’all, but it’s not just hitting keys, it’s an art - ”

The computer beeps as it accesses the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service mainframe. Hardison stammers. “Wh-what? No. That’s not fair. You’re a thief, you and Eliot punch things, you hack… what can’t you do?” He asks, making use of the time he has to start scanning through the files for the information they need. 

“ _Speak_.” Jack collapses into the armchair and pulls out her knife and whetstone. 

Hardison pauses. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that.” 

Jack groans and puts down the knife and stone and picks up her device. “ _What? If I was offended by my injury, I would have quit this business long ago_.”

“Why didn’t you?” Hardison asks, continuing to search the data in front of him. “Hell, if I ever got shot on the job, I might reconsider my career choice. But getting my tongue out? I’d be done for sure.” 

“ _You don’t leave this kind life any other way than a body bag_.” She types, keeping eye contact with Hardison. “ _I’m good at what I do because it’s all I’ve know_.”

Hardison turns back to his computer. “You must’ve had some sorta messed up childhood.” 

Eliot and Parker come through the door. 

“ _I still have a painting to deliver_.” she signs to them. “ _We run by your book, but out in the field, I call the shots. Just tell me what needs to get done_.”

“If you’re gonna be on our team, we’re gonna work like a team.” Parker says. “Are you in?”

“ _I don’t have a choice_.”

Parker shrugs and picks up the remote. “That’s better than a no.” She clicks a button and Dimitri’s face pops up on the TV screen. “Let’s start with rabbit number one.”


	5. Chapter 5

The growling sound of a motorcycle is drowned out by the sound of planes taking off. Jack drives up to the isolated airplane hangar housing the Volki and stutters to a stop. She removes her helmet and heads toward the hangar door. Alexi steps out and stands in front of the door with his arms crossed menacingly. 

“Why are you here?” He grunts. "Dimitri is out and will not accept new merchandise."

“ _I bring delivery from Linster_.” Jack signs. 

Alexi holds out his hands. “Ambassador usually brings it himself. He should not know you work for us. What happened?” 

“ _Someone tipped him off. Someone on the inside_.” She signs in Russian. “ _I managed to keep my position with him, but he wants me to deliver things personally to Yuri. Doesn’t think it’s safe to come out here_ ”

“Yuri?” Alexi repeats. “Why?”

Jack shakes her head. “ _He doesn’t trust Dimitri. What do you know_?” 

“More than you, which is how it should stay.” Alexi says and opens the door for Jack. “Drop off the merchandise and leave.”

“She’s in.” Hardison says, watching from the van with the binoculars. “You guys best be careful, that places is crawling with muscle... which now that I say it, makes for a very disturbing image.”

“Hardison,” Eliot hisses. “Cut the chatter.” 

Parker and Eliot move toward the other side of the hangar and duck behind a car. “We’ve got cameras. Three.”

“Blind spots?” 

“None.”

Eliot groans. “If we take them out, we’ll have Russians on us in seconds.”

“ _I’m almost to the computers_.” Jack’s computer voice says through the comms. 

The airplane hangar is a maze of crates and sealed containers full of everything from drugs to stolen goods to equipment. Armed mob members walk their rounds throughout the warehouse-like space, keeping their eyes open for trouble. Some count inventory and move shipments, sloppily dropping items on scales and scrawling in notebooks. 

Jack nods at a burly man with tattoos on his face and moves toward a small room with a server, monitors, and all sorts of tech littering table tops and stacked against the walls. Unlike Hardison’s competent setups, this was splayed out by someone with basic knowledge of how things work and little understanding of how to optimize. There was a heavy focus on small devices like timers and bombing apparatuses. 

The unnaturally skinny man operating a soldering gun looks up at Jack as she enters. The desk he sits at is a mess of circuitry and wires, the keyboard is shoved aside and covered in grime, and the computers are outdated. “ _You shouldn’t be here, thief_.” He states in Russian and gestures at the door. “ _Go_.” 

“ _I have something for you to fix_.” She types onto her phone and it reads out in Russian. Jack pulls the broken cell phone she destroyed in a baggie and bats her eyes at the Russian. “ _I hear you’re a genius with tech_.”

The Russian laughs. “ _No one told you that_.”

Jack pouts and gets closer to him, tossing the broken phone aside. “ _You got me. They don’t let me around here without cause_.” Her new phone reads. “ _Most of the guys around here think with their fists. I’m interested in a man with a mind_.”

The skinny Russian leans back and grins showing discolored teeth from smoking and lack of care. Jack slides along the table and positions herself between him and the table with the monitor and electronics, practically in his lap. Jack slips one hand behind her to place a thumb drive into the hard drive on the table as she leans forward. 

Hardison cracks his knuckles. “Hell yeah, I’m in.” He says. “Eliot, Parker, gimme a minute and I’ll have those cameras down and - oh, ew! Ew! Jack! I need bleach for my eyes.”

“What’s going on?” Eliot asks.

Jack exits the computer room and moves toward the back of the hangar, wiping off her mouth. “ _Just did what I had to to keep away suspicion. Heading toward Yuri’s office now_.”

“Cameras are on loop. Parker, Eliot, you are go.” Hardison says into the comms. Eliot and Parker jump up from their position behind the cars and head toward the door. It has an electronic keypad. “Doors aren’t on the same system as the computers.”

“Didn’t you just turn off the cameras?” Parker asks. 

Hardison shakes his head. “The cameras route their footage to the computers. I made it so their computers run loops of that security footage. I can’t touch their cameras.” 

Parker looks at the keypad and which buttons are worn. “Alright. Could be any combination of… one, two, four, seven, zero.”

“That is if the code hasn’t changed recently.” Eliot grumbles. 

“ _Yuri sets the codes. It's probably a reverse jinx. He's super suspicious like that_.” Jack’s recording says through comms. 

Hardison puts down his orange soda. “What does that mean?”

“It means he sets unlucky dates or numbers as passwords to bring good luck because using something lucky can jinx if used too often.” Parker explains. “Gamblers do it all the time.” 

“That’s a thing?” Hardison asks. 

“Just find us some dates, Hardison!” Eliot shouts. 

Jack walks up to Yuri’s office near the back. It’s much more organized than the computer lab. There are filing cabinets, binders of logs and information, and a clean room setup for inspecting paintings. Yuri looks up from his desk, loupe in his eye and an emerald bracelet in the other. “ _You_?” He growls in Russian. “ _What? More jewelry? We cannot pay right now. Go away_.”

She takes out the canvas covered in brown paper from her messenger bag and hands it to Yuri. “ _From the job_.” Jack signs. 

“ _Where is Alexi? I cannot read hands_.” Yuri complains, taking the canvas and unwrapping it. “ _The O’Keefe? Where is Linster_?” 

Jack pulls out her phone. “ _Dimitri gave it to me to bring here. Like I’m some sort of dog_.” 

Yuri rolls his eyes. “ _Ever since his Oleg turned over operations to that whelp, we haven’t seen a profit_.” He says. “ _That was, what? Three years ago? On the twenty-seventh, I remember I never had such an awful spring day_.” 

“Wait.” Eliot says and halts Parker. “Yuri mentioned a date. Three years ago, 27. Spring.”

“That must be it! I bet the four is April.” Parker says and punches in the numbers: zero, four, two, seven, one, one. The door beeps and unlocks. 

“We clear?” Eliot asks Hardison over comms, tensing for a fight on entering the hangar.

Hardison clicks through security camera footage. “I gotta loop what their receiving and…. You’re good. Go.”

Eliot and Parker dash in through the doors. “It’s your turn, Jack. We need Yuri out of his office...” 

“ _Can’t believe he’s off skiing again. Are you stuck here_?” Jack asks. 

Yuri shrugs. “ _Not stuck. Work must be done_.”

Parker and Eliot move along the corridors of crates and boxes toward the middle of the hangar. “Yo, look out. There’s some big dudes gossiping ahead.” Hardison warns them. 

Eliot peeks around the corner and sees the large Russians. One is showing him a video off his phone involving explosions and they are both laughing. “I could take them.”

“You won’t. We cause a scene in here, we’ll never get out.” Parker says. “What can we do Hardison?” 

“I’m looking… I’m looking…” Hardison scans the blueprints and camera footage. “Okay, I’ve got an idea, but it’s… not the best.” 

Parker turns to Eliot. “You get to Yuri’s office, I’ll get to the vault.” 

Jack shakes her head. “ _What he sows he will reap_.” Jack looks around suspiciously and then back to Yuri. “ _If business is as bad as you say, I might be out of the job soon_.” She raises her eyebrows at Yuri. “ _But you seem capable to put the business back on its feet_.”

“ _What are you getting at_?” Yuri asks, his voice low and his eyes dart to anything that moves outside his office. 

“ _You run this place. Everyone knows it. So own it_.” Jack types into the phone. “ _I’m with you, the men are with you. Linster no longer trusts Dimitri. It seems like Dimitri’s usefulness has run its course_.” 

Yuri gets up from his chair and sighs heavily. “ _You know, thief. I would have jumped at that offer a year ago, but I am no longer a young man and these men, they are on his payroll_.” 

Jack grins. “ _I am more than a thief_.” 

Yuri collects the jewelry back in a box, picks up the painting, and slips both into a personal safe under his desk. The door slams shut and he spins the dial until the tumblers lock. “ _You can never be too sure around here. I think we should talk somewhere else about this… business opportunity_.”

They leave Yuri’s office and head out of the building just as Eliot slips in. “Alright, what am I looking for?” 

“We need the file that they have on the Ambassador.” Hardison informs Eliot. “Just put the thumb drive into his computer so I can check out what he’s got on there. Then check the filing cabinets.”

“What now, Hardison?” whispers Parker as she climbs up into the rafters of the hangar, having climbed up a particularly tall stack of crates. 

“You cannot make a sound. Don’t speak. That metal roofing above you will reflect all sound below you and they could hear it as if you were right next to them.” Hardison explains. “Do you see the vault?” 

Parker scans the room and notices a large metal vault as big as a bank vault. One Russian stands outside the gate. She nods and waits. Silence. 

“Oh, right. Forgot I said you shouldn’t speak. My bad.” Hardison says. “There is a hatch in the top, but do not enter it. Once you get there, I’ll talk you through the rest. Just don’t make a sound.”

She slowly begins to move along the metal rafter beams across the hangar. Looking down, she sees the armed Russians scattered along the maze of boxes. 

Eliot jiggles the handles for the filing cabinets. “They’re locked.”

“Well, the files must be in there, because my scan of Yuri’s computer comes up clean. Either the man knows how to hide data or he rarely uses his computer.” Hardison says. “Don’t you know how to lockpick?” 

Eliot clenches his fists. “Do you know how to disarm a man in six seconds?”

“ _The key is there_.” Jack’s mechanical voice says over comms. “ _The only keys on his person are car and house keys so they must be kept in his office_.” 

Jack’s hair whips around in the air as a plane takes off overhead. Yuri lights a cigarette and offers one to Jack, but she shakes her head. “ _You think you can kill Dimitri Medved_?”

“ _Do you know what an accident specialist is_?” Jack asks, looking Yuri dead in the eyes and his eyes narrow. 

Yuri cracks a smile and takes a long drag from the cigarette, looking off into the distance. “ _A man like him never dies accidentally. If I take his place, there will be doubts_.”

Parker creeps along the ducts, carefully placing each foot and hand in order to equally spread her weight. The vault is near to her now, but so are a few Volki members toting assault rifles. 

“ _They will respect and fear you because they know you did it_.” Jack smiles. “ _Besides, you can get new criminals anywhere. This is Russia_.”

Yuri laughs and flicks the cigarette away, the smoldering ashes sparking on the concrete. He moves closer, staring intently into Jack’s eyes. “ _Why do you care about this organization, huh? If you’re unhappy here, why not leave? Why cause trouble_?” 

They’re face-to-face for a long moment, Jack staring confidently relaxed into Yuri’s eyes. He laughs and turns toward the hangar. “ _I will think about it and call you then_.”

Eliot opens a small snuff box on the desk and pulls out a ring of keys. “Alright, got the keys, but I don’t know which one. Going to try all of them.” 

“ _Yuri is heading back in_!” Jack says over the intercom. Eliot looks up to see the hangar door opening and quickly looks around for a place to hide. He kneels behind the desk. 

“I’ve got nowhere to hide!” Eliot snaps. “Hardison!” 

Yuri walks toward his office. Hardison types furiously on his keyboard as images of camera footage and alarm systems fly across his screen. “If I pull any alarms, it will ruin Parker’s escape.”

“He can’t find me or the con is blown!” Eliot hisses. 

Yuri stops halfway to his office as if he just thought of something, turns around and starts down a path toward the computer room. 

“Eliot. Eliot! You’re good, man.” Hardison relays to Eliot. “He’s heading toward the computer lab.” 

Eliot springs up from his position and starts try every key on the cabinets. “Hurry up, Parker. The moment I copy these files, we’re getting out of here.” 

Parker slowly lands on top of the vault. “Hardison?” She whispers. “What now?”

“That’s a Glenn-Reeder 260 Vault. It has a defect on the back.” Hardison reads, the blueprints for the vault and documents on the vault’s maintenance on his monitors. “There should be a maintenance panel on the back, it’ll look like a switch box. You just need to open the panel, pull off the cover to show exposed wires, put in Jack’s beacon and we good.” 

She spins and drops to the floor. “How long do I have?” 

“Roughly 28 seconds.” 

Parker opens the panel on the back of the vault. “Easy as pie.” She says. 

A shadow falls over the skinny Russian in the computer room leaning over his work on a bomb apparatus. “ _I need you to do some digging for me_.” Yuri commands. 

The Russian stands and sighs. “ _Why can't you get the other guys to did it? They're stronger_.”

“ _No, you idiot_!” Yuri yells. “ _I want to know more about this thief Dimitri hired. Ana. I want to know her history, everything she’s done for us since she’s been hired, anything you can find. Email it to me by tonight_.” 

The skinny mobster sets aside his soldering equipment and tools and pulls out a keyboard. “ _I don’t know how much I can get by then, but if you gave me twenty-four hours -_ ”

“ _No, tonight! That stupid American buyer arrives tomorrow_.” Yuri snarls. “ _I need to know before then_.”

Hardison checks the cameras. “Yuri’s leaving the nerd lair. Eliot -”

Eliot hold a manila envelope with Linster’s name on it. “I got it.” Before Eliot closes the drawer, another file catches his eye. A file labeled: Dimitri Medved.

Checking over his shoulder first, Eliot snatches the folder out of the drawer and opens it. 

Jack nods to Alexi on her way out and heads to her motorcycle. “I’m driving around near the pick up point now. Y’all make sure to be there.” Hardison says. 

“Where are you Eliot?” Parker asks, opening the door to outside the hangar. 

The door closes and reveals Eliot standing on the other side. “Right here, Parker. Let’s go.” 

Yuri steps into his office and pauses as if something feels off. He sits down at his desk and adjusts some piles of paperwork. The snuff box, slightly out of place, catches Yuri’s eyes. He checks for the keys and moves it back, but that’s when he notices the thumb drive in his computer. 

***

Back at the hotel base, they all sit around the TV as Hardison clicks through the pictures from the files on Linster. Takeout containers litter tabletops. Parker takes large forkfuls of pelmeni and stuffs her mouth. “Linster is a worse dude than we thought. I was thinking drugs or dog fights, but no. This guy has a thing for… young… girls.” Hardison says and they all grimace. Eliot sets aside his food with disgust while Jack sips her borscht. 

“They got time stamped photos of him in a hotel room with someone who - I - I don’t think I want to know where her parents are…” Hardison continues. 

“ _She’s probably off the streets_.” Jack interrupts Hardison. “ _There are more than fifty thousand homeless children in Moscow alone_.” 

Hardison clears his throat after an awkward silence falls on the team and clicks another button. A picture of a hand-off between Dimitri and Linster is seen outside the hangars. “Dimitri uses these photos to blackmail Linster into doing his dirty work instead of paying him. He also keeps detailed records of their communications so he can ruin Linster if anything happens to the folder. This man is good with sleaze.”

“What about that other file I sent you?” Eliot asks and raises a beer to his lips. 

Hardison turns back to the TV and more documents scatter on the screen. “Dimitri’s not the only one keeping tabs on those around him. It seems like Yuri likes to get his hands dirty sifting around in other people’s closets. And he found a full skeleton in Dimitri’s.” 

Several receipts for sleeping pills purchased in Dimitri’s name shows up and the death certificate for Oleg appears next to it. “So it looks like Yuri believes that Dimitri dosed his father?” Parker asks. 

“Oleg Medved died at the ripe age of seventy-two. There was no investigation since he already turned over the business to Dimitri… after he started having trouble remembering and focusing according to notes Yuri made.” Hardison responds. 

“Dimitri could’ve been dosing his dad with sleeping pills throughout the day, just enough to keep him forgetful and groggy until he gave up the business and then up the dose.” Eliot hypothesizes. 

“ _He would have had to calculate for alcohol usage_.” Jack adds. “ _That would have increased the effects of the medication and could even kill his father prematurely if he wasn’t careful_.” 

Hardison points the remote at the TV and an image of Oleg and Yuri holding alcoholic beverages, in a bar appears. Oleg has a birthday hat on. “He died on his seventy-second birthday. In a bar.”

“What can we do with this information?” Parker asks. 

“Guilt him?” Hardison offers. 

Eliot shakes his head and points at the picture of Dimitri on the other side of the screen. “You think that guy, who is rolling in money and living the high life is guilty?”

“ _What does this information matter_?” Jack asks, approaching the TV. “ _I need to know more about the mark so I know how to get rid of him when Yuri calls_.”

“Hold up.” Hardison says. “We don’t kill people.” 

“ _You don’t. I do_.” Jack corrects him. 

Eliot stands up and turns to Jack. Hardison rolls his eyes and looks at Parker, shaking his head. “That’s not how we operate, Jack. We’re the good guys now.” 

“ _Who chooses who the bad guys are then? You_?” Jack asks. 

“Hell yeah, man.” Hardison says. “People who kill, who ruin lives just to get what they want… those are the bad guys. And we stop them.” 

Jack looks to Eliot. “ _You honestly believe that you can judge others? Any of you_?”

“We help people, now.” Parker states and stands. “People who are helpless on their own. We’re not in it for profit.”

" _What about me? I stole the painting. I framed the guard._ " Jack holds out her hands in front of her as if to be handcuffed. 

"Without you, these people will hire someone else." Eliot explains. 

Parker nods. "We cure the disease, not just the symptoms."

Jack groans and drops into an armchair. “ _Well, if we can’t kill Dimitri, I’m out of ideas_.”

Hardison, Parker, and Eliot look forward at the TV screen full of information. 

“Dimitri has political protection to get him out of trouble, something he spends a lot of money on.” Parker recalls. 

Eliot nods. “He’s a spoiled only child who wanted money so bad he’d kill his father to get to it.” 

“Money he’s running out of. My stroll through their computers tells me that their funds have dipped below fifty thou. If he keeps spending the mob’s money like he has, that won’t last him to Christmas.” Hardison points out. 

“So we’ve got a mobster with a money problem and politicians in his pocket. What do we know about Yuri?” Parker asks. 

“Nothing.” Hardison reports, pulling up Yuri’s computer’s contents. “He’s one of the only guys still kicking who was part of the mob when they started trading in stolen goods and fencing stuff for money on top of the drugs. He’s never had much of a family and he likes baked goods.” Hardison presses a button and a picture of Yuri’s apartment appears. “See that shop under him? Bakery. Man could live in a mansion and he wants to live above a bakery.”

“A freshly baked croissant is worth it.” Eliot comments. “It’s like eating a buttery cloud. We should check them out.” 

“Whatever you say, man.” 

“Eliot meets with Dimitri tomorrow for the paintings.” Parker says and smiles. “Here’s what we’re gonna do..”

***

Eliot waits outside the classic Marussia sports car that Parker boosted to sell his wealthy American story. Hardison holds a tablet connected to the display and hacks his way through the car. “Okay, man. I turned off the tracking beacons, no need to worry someone’s gonna find this. Parker switched out license plates. You’re good to go.” 

Hardison steps out of the vehicle and Eliot slips into the driver’s seat. Eliot goes to close the door, but Hardison stops him. “Just give me a minute. When you guys were escaping the hangar the other day, I noticed a search on one of the computers. They were looking up Jack. Amateurs really. I didn’t let them find anything… but I found stuff, man. Bad stuff.” 

“What do you want me to say, Hardison?” Eliot asks. “She was a contract killer. We did jobs together a few times, but I don’t know anything else except this: I trust her. Saved my life a few times.” 

Hardison sighs and step back. “I mean, you killed people and turned out alright. A little moody and...” 

Eliot closes the door. “Focus on the con and less on the past.” He shouts through the window, revs up the car, and drives away. 

“Why does he get to drive the fancy cars?” Hardison shakes his head and heads toward the silver van. He places his finger to his ear. "Hey, Parker. Next con, can I get a sweet ride?"

***

Eliot pulls up to the hangar in the sports car, drawing envious looks from the Volki mobsters. He slides out and nods at one of the goons. “Where’s Dimitri?” 

The large screen door for the hangar is open and Dimitri walks out from the shadow cast on the inside. “You bring the money?” 

“You have the paintings?” Eliot replies. 

Dimitri shouts in Russian over his shoulder and two of his men exit the hangar with a small crate. They dip their hands in to and remove carefully wrapped paintings. “The Rotterdam Monet and Chicago O’Keefe. Seven million.” 

Eliot walks up to examine them. The two thugs pull back the wrappings long enough to show him that they were the real deal before slipping them back into the crate. Eliot pulls out his phone. “Seven million digital presidents on their way to you.” He says as he shows Dimitri the transfer on his phone. 

Dimitri laughs. "So your buyer thought our prices were fair?"

"Fair enough." Eliot grins.

“ _Where did you guys get seven million dollars_?” Jack asks over comms. 

Hardison smiles mischievously. “Let’s just say we were busy the last two years taking down billionaires. Ever heard of the Black Book Upload? Yeah, that was us.”

Dimitri slaps Eliot on the back with a laugh as he watches the seven million enters the mob’s account. “Very nice!” He shakes Eliot’s hand. 

“Think your boys could load that into the trunk for me?” Eliot asks and Dimitri nods. 

“ _Place crate in his car_.” Dimitri orders in Russian as Eliot opens the trunk with his key fob.

Once the thugs are out of earshot, Eliot propositions Dimitri. “How about you and I grab some lunch? A celebration for the closed deal?” 

Dimitri strokes his chin. “Are you paying?”

Eliot laughs. “It’s on me, big guy. Besides,” He leans in closer. “I can let you in on… let’s call it a new business opportunity.” 

Dimitri nods. “I know just the restaurant for occasion like this.”

“Dimitri!” A voice shouts behind them. Eliot and Dimitri turn to see Yuri exiting the hangar. “ _You said you would have a buyer for the Maria Lvovna Dillon sculpture two days ago, but you’ve been avoiding my calls_.”

“ _Yuri, can’t you see I’m here with a buyer_?” Dimitri complains in Russian. 

Yuri snarls. “ _Using artwork as payment doesn’t work when they’re not being sold! Your father understood that_.” He turns around and heads back inside. 

“Alright, Eliot and Dimitri are leaving. Said something about Varvee or Varee ...” Hardison reports to the team. 

“ _Restaurant Varvary_.” Jack informs him. “ _I hope you had more than seven million. It is quite expensive_.”

Parker crouches behind the cars by the back entrance of the hangar where they entered before. “Got the cameras, Hardison?” 

“For you, baby, anything.” Hardison replies. “You’re good to go.” 

Parker rushes up to the door and stands ready at the keypad. “How’s Jack doing on the distraction?”

The sound of metal smashing into metal cuts through the air. Smoke rises from the lot of parked cars on the other side of the hangar. Jack gets up from her turned-over bike without a scratch. Her bike is undamaged, but the car has quite the dent. Two of the mobsters walk toward the damage. 

“ _What did you do, thief_?” One demands in Russian.

“ _Is this your car_?” She signs, but they both curse since they can’t read it. They shout for Alexi and he walks up and Jack signs again. 

Alexi shakes his head. “ _Do we know whose car this is? Go get the others_!” 

The two thugs enter the hangar. Alexi crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow to Jack. “ _You’re not supposed to be here. If you have something, we pick you up at the factory. That was the agreement_.”

Jack leans against the car. “ _I came to get paid_.” she signs. “ _I never got my fee for the jewelry or the last dozen paintings I brought in_.” 

“ _Patience, Ana_.” Alexi says.

Jack laughs and sits down on the hood of the car she hit. “ _I’m not leaving until I’m paid_.”

“ _You may be here a long time_.” Alexi jests. 

“ _I know my American buyer paid more than enough to cover my commission_.” Jack signs and then crosses her arms. 

The two thugs bring out other mobsters to come look at the car and bike collision. “ _It is not my car_.” They say or “ _Is it Dimitri’s_?” 

“I’m in.” Parker whispers as she watches Russian mobsters walk out toward the other side of the hangar at the call of their comrades who tell them of a car accident and damages. 

She makes a beeline for the vault. Checking around every corner, she finally makes it. “Alright, Hardison.” Parker throws out her hands. “Open Sesame!” 

The digital lock quickly spins through combinations until it unlocks. Parker grins and heads inside. “Jack ain’t messing around. This beacon is some serious stuff.” 

Parker enters and the happiness fades from her face. “We have a problem.” Parker tells them as she pushes aside large canvases. “The vault is almost completely cleared out. The only things left are large paintings and statues.”

“What do you mean?” Hardison asks. 

Parker takes out her phone and snaps photos, sending them to Hardison. “I mean, that anything small I could take out of here to use against Dimitri is gone. This is all too big to move."

“Just get out of there, Parker.” Hardison tells her. “We’ll have to use the Monet Eliot has.”

“ _I need that_!” Jack’s voice says over comms. “ _Figure something else out_.”

Yuri joins the rest of the Russian mobsters outside the hangar to see what all the commotion is. He stops when he sees Jack sitting on the hood. “ _What are you doing here, thief_?”

Jack signs and Yuri looks to Alexi. “ _She says she’s here to get paid_.” 

“ _You didn’t need to damage my car to get my attention_.” Yuri says. “ _Besides, Dimitri is the one who assigns the payroll_.” 

Jack hops off the hood of the car and signs, staring down Yuri. “ _She says Dimitri’s not the one with money. You are_.”

Yuri turns to the loitering Russians. “ _Get back to your posts_!” They blunder away and Yuri turns back to Jack. “ _I don’t know what you think you know, but I know who you are… Elvira Nazarov_.”

Jack signs and Alexi rolls his eyes. “ _She is not scared. She is here for her paycheck. You want her gone? Then pay her_.” 

***

Eliot smiles at the waitress as she clears away their lunch plates. Dimitri leans back in his chair and pats his stomach. “What a delicious meal, thank you.” 

“I was wondering about your operation.” Eliot says, placing his napkin on the table. “You see, this whole section of the globe, Russia, Kazakhastan, Ukraine, Sweden, Finland… these are places I don’t currently have my reach.” 

Dimitri nods along as he swirls his vodka in his glass. “You wish to partner with the Volki?” 

Eliot winces and shakes his head. “No. Organized crime and Russian in particular - no offense - is a bit too messy for my business. I need a clean operation. No dirty money or double dealings. Just a secure place to store and move stolen goods.” 

Eliot leans in over the table. “You see, I’ve had branches in Sudan and India and places like that, where the businesses did one too many shady dealings with drugs or crimes and I had to pull out before my business ties with them were discovered.” Eliot sits up. “I need to keep a clean nose to keep my clients safe. They pay extra just for that. They’re smart enough to know that these purchases come with a risk, and I’m going to get them through it.” 

“Sounds like good money.” Dimitri says. 

“You saw the seven mil. That’s just two transactions.” Eliot says. “Ana tells me you have quite the haul stored away, but it hasn’t been touched.” 

“She should not be sticking her nose into business not hers…”

“Yeah, but I could get you a buyer for almost all of them by the end of the year. Just ‘cause you lock ‘em in a vault, doesn’t mean they gain value. You’re losing money just sitting on them.” 

“There must be catch to this. A price I pay? A buy in?”

Eliot grins. “Of course. I need to know you’re committed. Once you’re in, everything I sell and ship that’s yours, you get a percentage of.” 

“How much?”

“Thirty. I have to pay my shipping people and, well, I wouldn’t be in the business if I didn’t make some money.” 

“Forty.” 

Eliot shakes his head. “Listen, you only get to raise your percentage after I know I can trust you. Besides, you won’t have to pay the entire mob and their families… it all goes to you. Believe me, if you have paintings like the ones I bought today, you’ll be a millionaire by Christmas.”

Dimitri strokes his chin and downs his vodka. “How much? For the buy in?” 

“One million buy in. I have to set up the network to reach to Russia and grease a few palms.” 

Dimitri pulls out his phone. “We do this now.”

Eliot pushes his phone away. “No. You need to be clean. Do you have any shady dealings anything on record or with proof? That needs to be gone before we can go into business. Cut your ties with the Volki. Then you call me and we arrange the transfer.” 

“I will think about it.” Dimitri grumbles. “You drive hard bargain.” 

Eliot smiles. “That’s the only way to get ahead in this business.”

They get up from their table and head out the door. Dimitri and Eliot shake hands before parting. When Dimitri gets to his car, he pulls out his cellphone and dials a number. “I want the file on Linster. I’m heading to the hangar now.”

***

Ambassador Linster walks through the consulate offices until he passes by the immigration office. He knocks calmly on the door, looking distracted and nervous. The perky woman dressed in a warm sweater and slacks looks up from her desk. “What can I do for you, Alan?”

“Do you have those papers for Anastasyia -”

She shuffles through the papers on her desk, but then remembers. “Oh, no. Sorry, Alan. I couldn’t find anyone matching the information you gave me with that name. If you can bring her in I might be able to …”

“Thanks, Stacy. I’ll see what I can do.” Linster says and heads toward his office. He loosens his tie, gasping for air and sweating. He closes the door to his office and heads to a cabinet, opening the doors and locating a black case at the bottom. 

Linster drops the case on his desk and opens it. A pistol, full clip, and suppressor sit in the foam packaging. Fumbling in his pocket, he pulls out his cellphone.

***

Jack watches as five hundred thousand dollars moves into her account from her phone. “ _Thank you_.” She signs and turns to leave. 

“ _I would advise you to leave Russia, Elvira_.” Yuri warns her. “ _I have friends who get rid of pests like you_.” 

Jack turns around and smiles. “ _No, they hire me_.” She signs and Alexi translates to Yuri. 

Just as she gets onto her motorcycle and kick starts the engine, her phone rings. Jack looks at the text message from Linster. ‘Meet me at my apartment.’

“ _Linster wants me to meet him. I’m heading over there now_.” Jack types into her phone and it reads over the comms. 

Parker, driving the van through the Moscow streets, looks over her shoulder at Hardison “We should regroup with Eliot.”

“What happened to the stolen Russian inventory?” Eliot asks, still driving the luxury car. He stops at a red light and looks to his right. An attractive Russian woman behind the wheel sizes up him and his car with a coy smile. 

Hardison lets go of his mouse. “No. Nothing is in the logs. Nothing says any art has been sold or how. All they've been moving has been drugs and weapons.”

“Who fills out the paperwork?” Parker asks. 

“Yuri.” Hardison answers. “He can fake the logs, but then how does he transfer it? Linster is Dimitri’s stooge. Yuri wouldn’t be able to use Linster without Dimitri finding out.” 

“I’m going go meet up with Jack. See if I can help her get answers from Linster. Send me the Ambassador’s address.” Eliot says. 

Hardison starts typing on his computer. “Sending it your way.” 

“I guess now we need to find where the missing merch is.” Parker sighs. “Because this couldn’t be easy.” 

***

Jack knocks on the Ambassador’s apartment door. Nothing. She jiggles the handle and it opens. “I’m five minutes out, Jack.” Eliot says into the comms. 

Jack steps cautiously into the room. “ _Alan_?” She asks, typing out on her phone. 

The moment she closes the door behind her, Jack feels the hairs on her neck stand up. Linster stands behind her, cowering in the kitchen, with a gun pointed toward her, suppressor attached. 

Jack dives to the ground as Linster shoots three times. The sound of two bullets hitting the wall and then shattering a glass lamp stand transmits through her earbud. 

Eliot looks around, the sounds of the fight in his ears. “What was that? Were those shots? Jack!” He presses his foot down and accelerates. 

Jack grabs the nearest thing to her, a coffee table book, and tosses it at Linster. It hits him in the arm, distracting him. Taking the window of opportunity, Jack launches at him, knocking him down onto the floor of the kitchen. Linster’s gun goes off and the bullet grazes Jack’s thigh. 

“What’s going on? Eliot!” Parker shouts as they pull into the parking lot of the hotel. “She can't kill him!” 

Eliot speeds through the streets along the Moskva River. “I’ll let you know when I get there!” The GPS alerts Eliot that his destination is on his left. A water-view luxury apartment complex. “Jack, listen to me.” He says, trying to reach out to Jack on the comms. 

Jack reaches for Linster's gun, but Linster won't let go. She grabs his arm and twists it, bending the elbow the wrong way until a _snap_ is heard. Linster screams. 

The tires screech as Eliot pulls quickly into the lot for the building. “We need him! Just wait for me.” He launches out of the car the moment it’s parked and races to the entrance of the building. 

Eliot bolts up the stairs to the third floor. He finds the door to the Ambassador’s room unlocked and bursts in. “Jack!” 

Linster is unconscious on the kitchen floor next to Jack who sits in a kitchen chair. “ _You think I couldn’t take care of one guy_?” Jack signs to him. 

“I heard shots. Did he get you?” Eliot asks. 

“ _A little_.” Jack signs and shows the graze on her thigh. 

Before Eliot turns to hunt for supplies in the bathroom cabinets, he stops to take Linster’s pulse. Jack scoffs. “ _Don’t you trust me_?” She signs. 

Eliot smiles. “Just checking. I’m sure that beat down to his face didn’t happen when he fell on the floor.” 

Jack smirks, but not one of malice, one of withheld rage. “ _He deserves worse_.” 

“But you didn't kill him.” Eliot pats her on the back. “I’m proud.” 

“Eliot, what’s going on?” Parker asks. “We’re can meet you at the apartment-.” 

“No, everything’s fine.” Eliot reports while he raids the bathroom for bandages and hydrogen peroxide. “Linster’s gonna look like a bruised apple, but Jack’s fine.”

Hardison and Parker stand over a table in the hotel room with documents and maps spread out on it. “We need to finish this up, people. The longer this takes, the harder it will be to get free and clear.” 

Eliot comes back with the materials to help with Jack’s leg. She holds out her hands to take them from him, but he shakes his head. “I’ll do it.” She grabs a pair of scissors off the table and starts cutting away at the jeans around the graze. 

Jack puts the scissors down and tosses the bloody scraps. “ _I can’t work like this, Eliot_.” She signs. “ _I work best alone_.”

Eliot chuckles. “I used to say that.” 

“ _What happened_?” 

Eliot shrugs as he wraps the wound. “I found something better than a paycheck.”


	6. Chapter 6

Dimitri returns to the hangar with a huge grin on his face. He strides straight through to Yuri’s office. “ _I want the Linster file. All of it_.” He demands in Russian. 

Yuri stands, retrieving his keys from his snuff box. “ _What is the meaning of this? What has happened with Linster_?” 

“ _Nothing yet_.” Dimitri says and takes the keys from Yuri. He opens the cabinet. “ _His usefulness has just run its course_.” 

Yuri scowls. “ _I respected your father, but you have gone too far! You’re going to run the Volki into the ground! Ruin all of your father’s hard work and planning_!”

Dimitri laughs and turns to look into the cabinet. He rifles through in a panic. “ _Where is the file_?” He asks. “ _Where is the file on the Ambassador_?” 

Yuri pushes aside Dimitri and looks through himself. He looks at Dimitri and smiles smugly. “ _Perhaps your thief took it so you could blame its disappearance on me_.”

“ _Where did you hide it, old man_?” Dimitri shouts and starts tearing up Yuri’s desk, looking for the photos and contents of the envelope. 

Yuri shoves Dimitri aside. “ _Boris! Alexi_!”

Both men appear at the doorway of the office. Yuri points at Dimitri. “ _Get him out of here_.” 

“ _You can’t tell my men what to do_!” Dimitri yells. Boris and Alexi grab under his arms and start to lead him out of the office, but Dimitri shrugs them off. “ _Get your hands off me_.” 

They follow Dimitri out the building as Dimitri pulls out his cellphone and dials a number. They pick up after one ring. “ _I want you to get rid of the Ambassador. Do what you do. Accident. Quickly_.” 

***

Jack closes her phone. “ _Dimitri_.” She signs to Eliot. “ _Linster is a target now. I’m supposed to kill him_.”

“Well, we can’t have that.” Eliot sighs and hits the face of Linster. “Come on, man. Wake up.” 

Linster blinks away and moans reaching for his head and feeling the lumps and bruises. “I’m going to tell you right now, you look just as bad as you feel. That’s not what’s important. We have some questions that need answering.” 

The Ambassador sits up and looks at Jack sitting on a kitchen chair. “Ana! Ana, I’m so sorry. I thought you were one of the Volki.”

“She is.” Eliot says. “And she’s here to kill you.” 

Jack flashes a little smile at Linster. “Wait! I - I haven’t done anything wrong. He’s blackmailing me - “

“We know.” Eliot replies as Linster stands and walks into the living room followed by Eliot. “We have the file and it definitely makes it harder for me to keep her from killing you. Now listen up!” Eliot says, stepping between Linster and Jack to keep his attention. “Dimitri is going into a new business. He’s doesn’t want to leave any loose ends so that means he wants you gone.” 

“The one you know as Ana, is really undercover CIA.” Eliot informs Linster. “We want your testimony against the buyers and other smuggling networks the Volki have set up in America.”

“I can’t! They’ll kill me!” Linster gasps and clutches at his chest. 

“They’re already trying to kill you, Ambassador. Keep up.” Eliot says and paces the room with confidence. “We can put you in a comfortable witness protection program if you cooperate.”

Linster runs a hand through his hair and dabs at his freshly sweating face. “What if I don’t?”

Eliot shrugs. “The Volki will take care of you before you make it to the airport. Your choice.”

Linster looks between Eliot and Jack. “I… I’ll take my chances with you.”

“Good choice.” Eliot says and nods at Jack. 

She pulls out her phone and types up at text to Dimitri. “Done.”

Eliot takes out his phone. “Now we just need to get you on the next flight out of here. I need to make a call.” He leaves the room. 

Linster stares at Jack with his eyes wet with tears. “Ana… Jack... please…” 

Jack moves across the room away from him. 

Eliot, in the guest bedroom, holds a finger up to his ear “Hardison. Let me know what you’ve got for flights to Portland.” 

“Hey,” Hardison says, both him and Parker sitting at the table with more plans out in front of them. “We’re working our own thing here. Can’t you just use your phone?”

“Fine. What have you figured out?” Eliot asks. 

Hardison throws some papers on the ground and Parker places her head in her hands in defeat. “There’s nothing. No trace of sales, nothing. Yuri doesn't do anything out of the ordinary. He never goes to the post office, never packages anything at the hangar. We’ve looked through old footage and, hell yeah, he’s taking the stuff right out of the vault. But then poof. That’s it.”

“He’s not selling locally, there isn’t a market for that stuff here.” Parker adds. “We just see him take art out of the vault, go home, and then a week later there’s money in his account.” 

Parker grabs a photo of the exterior of Yuri’s apartment. “And I swear if I have to keep looking at this bakery we’re going to need to stock up on chocolate and muffins.” 

Parker holds up the photo with a look of envy. It slowly brightens into an excited epiphany. “That’s it!” 

“What’s it?” Hardison and Eliot ask in unison. 

“The - the bakery!” Parker explains. “They ship their pastries… this is like a really famous Russian bakery. They ship all over and have other stores in different countries.” 

“He’s smuggling the smaller art with pastries?” Eliot asks. 

Parker nods. “And the bigger stuff could be moved in the supply shipments. Think about it. The most recent art and items that Yuri has requested Jack steal has been smaller items. Jewelry... the O’Keefe is the size of a sheet of paper… things that could be shipped in small packages.”

Hardison holds out a hand for a high-five. “Nice one.” Parker hits it. 

She jumps to her feet and body slams Hardison with a hug. “Let’s go get some chocolate.”

***

Outfitted with outrageous colored outfits, cameras, and fanny packs, Hardison and Parker enter the bakery, arm in arm. It’s a cozy little brick-and-mortar business with display cases full of flaky, buttery goodness. Framed newspaper clippings cover the walls. “What about this place? I love the little pastries!” Parker squeals in an over-the-top American tourist voice. She whips out her camera and takes photos of everything. 

They wander around, taking note of the security cameras and strong employees that look like they could definitely lift a fifty pound bag of flour and a dead body. “There’s way more security here than one would need for a bunch of sweets.” Hardison mutters. 

“You think we can see their operation in the back?” Parker asks. 

“I - I don’t think - “ Hardison starts, but Parker twirls and walks away. “Parker, wait.” 

Parker strides up to the counter. “Hiya! I’m from America and I’ve kinda got this super cool blog on bakeries around the world called ‘Flour Power’. I was wondering if I could take some pictures?” She wiggles her camera and illustrates taking pictures. 

The Russian woman behind the counter with a permanent scowl doesn’t move. “Are you going to buy something?” She asks with a heavy Russian accent. 

“Well, of course, everything looks delicious!” Parker exclaims. “But I like to capture more than the food. Like how it’s made. Can I see your kitchen?”

“No.” She growls. “Buy something or leave.” 

“Well, I - “ Parker was about to argue, but the woman nods to one of the muscle men with large piercings. He steps forward to throw out Parker, but Hardison steps in between. “Alright. We’ll go. Sorry to hurt your feelings.” 

Hardison and Parker exit the bakery and walk into the middle of the square. “It definitely looks like the operation might be in there or Russians really care about protecting their pastries.” Parker says and then kicks at the ground. “WE gotta go back in. I didn’t even get an eclair.” 

"Wait. Think about it." Hardison says. “Bakeries usually have great ventilation, right?”

“Yeah, those ovens get pretty hot…” Parker smiles.

***

Eliot hands Jack two plane tickets. “This is for you and the Ambassador. I used your passport for Darya Isayev. The flight leaves in three hours.”

“ _What about you_?” Jack signs as Eliot turns to leave the apartment. 

Eliot smiles. “We’ll be there. Just keep him alive.”

“ _You better_.” She signs and walks into the living room where Linster is pouring himself another drink and drinking it down like water. 

“What do you want?” He growls. 

Jack drops a suitcase by him. “ _We’ve packed for you. Only essentials_.” She types on her phone. “ _We leave in an hour_.”

***

Hardison enters the bakery again and walks up to the counter. “Excuse me, excuse me!” He shouts to the woman behind the counter. “You hurt the feelings of my lady and I’m gonna have to ask you to apologize.”

“I will not let tourists into my kitchen.” She says. “If you have problem with this, go to another bakery.” 

“She likes this one.” Hardison says, amping up the obnoxious. “She likes the history and the aesthetic. So what is it? Is the a race thing, huh? Is this ‘cause I’m American?” 

The shrew-like woman looks at her men. “ _Get him out of here_.” She barks in Russian. 

Inside the kitchen of the Russian bakery, the vent cover lifts with a screech of rusts metal. “Hardison, there’s two people in here. You need to really cause a scene.” The two men, wearing baker’s aprons, loiter around in the kitchen, dipping their fingers into cookie dough and chocolate filling and tasting it. 

The two Russian guards menacingly move toward Hardison. “No!” He shouts. “Nuh-uh! In America, we have something called customer service and it’s always given me what I wanted. I feel entitled to that everywhere I go, so no! I demand you apologize to my fiance and -” He grabs a pastilla and shoves it into his pocket. “I get a free cookie... thing!” 

The two men start moving toward the front of the shop. “It’s working, Hardison!” She says and drops down onto a table and then flips onto the floor. Parker hesitates for a second and then sticks her own finger into the cookie dough and takes a taste. 

“Get him out of my shop! Or I’ll do it myself” The woman shouts. Wielding a rolling pin, she moves out from behind the counter and the two men wearing aprons enter the fray. 

Hardison is roughly pushed around toward the door. “You can’t do this! Did you hear me? I’m American! We’re invincible.” 

“Hardison, what are you doing?” Eliot asks over comms. “You’re going to get yourself killed.” 

The guard with large piercings picks Hardison up and throws him out into the snow. The two thuggish guards in aprons follow out into the snow drift. One has knucle tattoos while the other would look pretty normal if it wasn't for a large hooked nose. Hardison holds out his hands. “Hey, hey, okay man. You know what? Maybe I should just go.” 

“I want to see if you are invincible.” One guard growls with a sadistic grin. 

Parker snoops around the kitchen, looking under the tables and in storage boxes. In one corner, there was everything necessary for packing: tape, bubble wrap, and folded boxes. “I found where they pack and ship their stuff.” She reports. 

Something shiny catches her eye. “Wait, what’s that?” 

The hooked nose Russian kicks Hardison in the side while the one with knuckle tattoos kicks from the other. Hardison squirms, attempting to get away, but Tattoo Knuckles pins down Hardison's arm with his boot. Hardison cries out. 

“Hey!” A familiar voice shouts. The two bakery guards turn around to see Eliot. He runs up and lands a kick to Hooked Nose’s knee. Tattoo Knuckles throws a punch that hits Eliot in the shoulder, but Eliot moves with the force and swings into a kick to Tattoo Knuckle's stomach. He reels backward and lands on the snow. 

Parker pulls out a box full of shiny metallic-looking insulating envelopes. A big grin spreads on her face. 

Hooked Nose roars and pulls out a knife. He starts stabbing at Eliot, but Eliot keeps him at a distance until he thrusts too far and Eliot grabs his arm. With a hand on his elbow and one at his wrist, Eliot bends the Russian’s arm the wrong way. It snaps. Eliot carries through and twists the arm around and pushes him into Tatto Knuckles, trying to getting up. 

With both guards down, Eliot helps Hardison up. “Wait, wait!” Hardison says and walks back. 

“Don’t kick a man when he’s down, Hardison.” Eliot warns him. 

Hardison leans forward and punches the guard on top right in the face. The man slips into unconsciousness.

He walks back to Eliot with a little limp and shakes out his hand. Eliot laughs. “What?” Hardison asks. “I didn’t kick him.” 

Eliot puts his finger to his ear as they approach the van. “Parker, are you out?” 

Parker appears in the driver’s seat, her face slightly smeared with chocolate. “Yeah, what took you so long, come on!” 

Hardison laughs as they get into the van. “Did you bring us back some pastries?” 

Parker licks her fingers and shakes her head. “Of course not. That would be stealing.” She says with a mouthful. 

They laugh and drive away back to the hotel. 

***

Budget paperwork litters Yuri's desk. On his computer, clients bid for one of the jewelry pieces Jack had brought in. 

The phone rings and Yuri picks it up. “Da?” 

A few seconds pass as Yuri listens to the frantic female voice on the other side. “ _What? Americans? Are you sure_?” He asks, balling up his fist. 

“ _This must be Dimitri_.” Yuri says and turns to his computer. He brings up the banking accounts he has. One has little over seven million dollars in it. “ _He must know about our operations. Halt shipping for a few days. I’ll take care of this_.” 

Yuri hangs up and enters the security information necessary to drain the account of all of its money into another account. He then jumps up to his feet and shouts out to the Volki members, “ _Load up the van with everything. All the merchandise. We’re moving operations_.” 

“ _Alright, boss_.” They respond and shout orders at each other. 

" _Alexi! BorisI want you two to keep an eye out at the airports. Kill Dimitri or his little Ambassador if they try to flee._ " Yuri orders. " _And that theif._ "

***

The Leverage team returns to their hotel room. Parker holds one of the metallic-like insulating packets full of pilfered pastries. “This is what I found.” 

Eliot takes it. “This could be something that could trick scanners.” 

“It’s designed to keep perishable food cool. Like, I don’t know, fruit or -” 

“Chocolate!” Parker suggests. 

“Yeah. If customs scans them, they won’t see anything but the bag shape.” Hardison says. “I bet it’s not the best to open a sealed insulated container either.”  
“So Yuri’s - what - putting jewelry in pies?” Eliot asks. 

Parker shrugs. “And the paintings probably are hidden on truck shipments. He’s still only doing the small, stuff though. It won’t be long before he moves the bigger paintings -”  
Eliot’s phone starts to ring. 

“Who’s that?” Parker asks. Eliot flips open the burner phone.

“Dimitri.” He says and answers the call. “Hello?”

Dimitri lounges in an armchair in his living room with a glass of wine. His laptop sits on a side table. “I’m in. I’m sending the money now.” 

He leans forward to open his account. It shows that it is completely empty. Dimitri yells in rage. 

“Everything okay there?” Eliot asks. 

Dimitri swears in Russian. “Nothing, nothing.” Dimitri says and then switches to his personal account which only has five hundred and fifty thousand dollars. “I will call you back.” 

Eliot closes the phone. “What was that about?” Parker asks. 

Hardison turns to his laptop and types on the keyboard as financial databases and accounts blur past. “Oh. Oh, damn. This is his problem.” 

He turns the laptop around and shows them the empty mob account. “Yuri drained it.” Eliot says. “He’s moving Volki operations, cutting out Dimitri."

“We need that money or the payoff won’t work.” Parker says. “How soon until Jack and Linster arrive at the airport?"

Eliot checks his watch. “They left ten minutes ago. She's expecting trouble.”

“We’ve got an hour to catch that flight.” 

Eliot’s phone rings again. “Hello?” 

“Transfering the money now.” Dimitri says. Eliot nods to Hardison who pulls up the transaction on his laptop. The transactions clears. “One million dollars.” 

“Thank you for your cooperation. I look forward to working with you.” Eliot says and hangs up. 

Parker shakes her head. “How?” 

Hardison laughs, looking at the bank records on his screen. "Someone just transferred one mil into his personal account."

"Who?" Eliot wondered. 

Hardison turns his screen around to show them. "His pocket politicians each added some money." 

Parker grins. "That's a lot more than two rabbits." 

***

Yuri's van pulls up outside a police cordon near his apartment. Yuri's mouth drops as he stumbles out of the van, gaping at the crisp, smoking rubble in front of him. “ _That - that’s my apartment!_ ” Yuri stammers and points. 

A stern-looking officer approaches him and gestures to the burnt bakery. “ _Did you live here_?”

Yuri nods. “ _What happened_?” 

“ _Oven fire_.” The officer informed him. “ _You may need to call your insurance company_.”

Yuri shakes his head. “ _No, no. This is arson. This was Dimitri, I know it_!” 

“ _Sir, if you think there is foul play, I need to take a statement._ ” The officer says and follows Yuri as he dashes to his van. Before he can get there, two officers arrive behind the van.

“ _Do you own this vehicle_?” One of the officers approaching the van, clearly in charge, asks Yuri while other officers surround it. Two open the trunk.

“ _Yes - hey! What are you doing you can’t -_ “ Yuri exclaims. The two officers that opened the trunk pull out some of the loosely packed art, drugs, and weaponry.

The lead officer turns Yuri around and presses him up against the van. “ _You are under arrest for possession of stolen goods…_ ”

“ _You can’t - I have lawyers! You can’t just barge in!_ ” Yuri wails. 

The officer leans close to him, tightening the handcuffs on him. “ _Medved sent us. You won’t make it to the courthouse_.” 

Yuri’s face drains of color as the officer shoves him toward the police car.

***

Jack pulls Linster through the airport, walking through with him to the special diplomatic path through customs. Whenever someone inquired after her, Linster would mumble about her being his personal bodyguard, the agreed upon excuse. 

"You could be a bit warmer to me, Ana." Linster says as they both get scanned with hand-held metal detector wands. 

Jack ignores him as they walk through the checkpoint and follow an airport employee to the vehicle that was going to drive them to their gate. 

Linster playfully bumps her shoulder. "After all, we've both been-"

Before Linster could say another word, Jack had her fingers subtly digging into a pressure point on his arm. The deadly glare in her eyes told him to cease the conversation and ride in peace. 

They get off outside their gate and Linster turns up his nose at all the civilians waiting. "I usually fly privately."

" _You need to hide. Volki would be looking for you to take a jet._ " Jack says, typing off her phone. 

"Am I at least flying first class?" Linster groans. 

Jack pulls out the tickets and shows them to Linster. Coach. He whimpers. "I don't feel so good." He says and pulls at his collar and spies a restroom. He grimaces. "I think there's a Diplomatic Room in this airport... if I could..." 

Jack blocks his way and then points at the public restroom just as a flood of people exit with their suitcases. Linster grimaces and hands Jack his bag. 

Just as Linster moves toward the restroom, Jack looks up to see Alexi. Her hand moves to her waist for the knife still there. 

Alexi steps toward her, arms outstretched in clear surrender. " _You've made quite the scene. I was given orders to kill you and Linster._ " Alexi states in Russian and gestures at a TV where it shows Yuri being arrested. " _But it seems like I won't be paid for it. Not worth the hassle, huh?_ " 

Jack nods. " _Thank you._ " She signs. 

" _Get out of here while you still can._ " Alexi advises.

Jack gestures to the airport gate. " _That's what I'm doing._ "

Alexi shakes his head. " _The business. It's no place to live. Only to die._ " He says and walks off into the mass of travelers and stressed fliers.


	7. Chapter 7

_Portland International Airport in Portland, Oregon_

Jack guides Linster to a car waiting outside the airport. “ _You are to go straight to the hotel. My associate will meet you there and give you new papers and identity_.”

Linster hesitates getting into the car while the driver takes his suitcase and places it into the trunk. “Ana, we had such a nice time together. Tell me, was any of it real? Us?”

Jack just glares at him and crosses her arms. Linster flinches and dips into the car. Jack slams the door shut behind him. 

The car drives away. Hardison, Eliot, and Parker walk up behind Jack. “Well, this wasn’t a total failure.” 

“It’s not over yet.” Hardison says. 

***

_Moscow, Russia_

An expensive flat-screen TV flashes with the Russian news featuring Yuri’s arrest, his involvement with the Volki, the recovery of stolen art, and the destruction of his bakery. Dimitri laughs, holding a tumbler of amber liquor. 

“ _In international news_ ,” The Russian anchorwoman says. “ _American ambassador Alan Linster was arrested this morning after a stolen painting is found in his vehicle as well as a file containing photographic evidence of his illegal dealings with the head of the Volki mob, Dimitri Medved_.”

Video of Portland police searching the vehicle show the painting being removed from his suitcase as well as a file runs behind the anchorwoman dialogue. Linster screams in the background, “That’s not mine! I didn’t put it there!”

A knock at the door startles Dimitri and he drops the wine glass. It shatters on the floor. 

He runs toward the back door and bolts through his expansive backyard, making a mad dash for the garage. Officers surrounding the house quickly close in on Dimitri and beat him to the garage. 

The officers brutally force Dimitri into handcuffs. “ _I wish to speak to the Minister_!” 

“ _The Minister sent us. It seems you can't fulfill your debts._.” One officer says and drags Dimitri to a police vehicle. 

***

_Portland, Oregon_

The Leverage team sits cozy in their Portland HQ watching the footage of Dimitri’s arrest and Alberto Reyes's exoneration upon the discovery of the O'Keefe in Linster's possession. Hardison mutes the news. “Dimitri, Yuri, and Linster are all behind bars and the Volki is disbanded.”

“I’d call this a win.” Eliot says, knocking back a beer. 

Parker shakes her head. “It was alright.” She turns to Jack. “If you’re interested, Jack, we could use another set of hands.” 

Jack notices all the eyes on her. “ _You’ll have them_.” She signs. 

“You didn’t do so bad.” Eliot says. “You didn’t kill anybody.” 

Jack sips from her tea cup, but pointedly doesn’t say anything. 

Parker looks up at the TV. “Wait - Hardison, turn it back on!” 

They watch as the anchor on screen shows video of Linster being carted away on a stretcher. “Recently arrested Ambassador Linster was admitted to the Good Samaritan Hospital after what seems to be acute liver failure. The prognosis is not good and doctors say he may not last the night.”

“How?” Hardison asks. “You get him to drink himself to death?” 

Jack pulls out a metal flask and hands it to Eliot. Eliot sniffs it. “Pennyroyal oil.” He hands back the flask and shakes his head. “How long have you been dosing him?”

“ _Since I knew about the girl_.” Jack signs. She finishes her tea and gets up from her chair, grabbing the wrapped Monet painting. “ _I have a painting to deliver. See you tomorrow_?”

Jack exits and Hardison turns to Eliot. “No. I say no. She gonna kill us while we’re sleeping!” 

Parker shrugs. “I kinda like her.” Hardison’s eyes grow wide with shock. 

“Did - did you just hear her? She killed our mark with some sort of oil!” Hardison exclaims. “No remorse.” 

“Hey, he did some bad things.” Eliot says and grabs his coat. 

“He was arrested before he died. It works,” Parker tells Hardison. “Besides, she reminds me of... me. You know, before all of this. I think she deserves a chance.”

Hardison sighs. “Fine. But if we all end up dead, I will haunt you all. Just sayin’.”

***

Jack walks down a dark alleyway with the painting. A dark figure stands near the end with only a lit cigarette to brighten his face when he takes a drag. 

“You brought the painting. Well, done.” The figure says. 

Jack crosses her arms. The figure laughs. “Of course, you want your information. What you don’t know is that you already have it.”

He flicks the cigarette. “I’ll be in touch, Kira.” The figure says before walking out the other side of the alley and disappearing into the shadows. 

Jack unwraps the Monet and stares at it in the low light of the alley. A blue impressionist style-painting of the Charing Cross Bridge in London.


End file.
